


Breaking Luna

by sabre



Series: My Little Pony [2]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: F/M, human crossover, sexual theme
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2018-12-10 08:51:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 29
Words: 80,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11688234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabre/pseuds/sabre
Summary: Discord has been defeated, Drake is engaged to Princess Celestia and a war in coming, when would be a better time for Princess Luna find out she's got feelings for her sister's partner?





	1. Night Cake Kisses

Canterlot castle stood in the city of Canterlot, the largest city in all of Equestria. Its gleaming white marble walls had been cleaned by some of the top cleaners in the world, Princess Celestia took an unusual size of pride in keeping the castle clean, whereas her fiancé had other plans.  
  
Drake was, to be fully honest, a lazy human in a world he didn’t belong. The god of Chaos known as Discord had yanked him from his home world and into Equestria for to bring enough chaos into the world for him to be reawakened from his stone prison, but everypony including Drake had fought valiantly and even though ponies died, Discord was now defeated and laid in a state of sleep underneath the castle in the dungeons highest built cell.  
  
But Drake had his good parts though, he always cared for everypony that visited and had been known to host the most AMAZING parties, but he did have some help from Pinkie Pie in Ponyville. He also helped with the royal guard as he was second in command to Shining Armour, so when missions were taken on, he was brought along.  
  
But he wasn't captain of the royal guards number two just because he was engaged to Princess Celestia though, Drake had a deep magical energy running through his entire body, day and night constantly. A power that even Princess Celestia didn’t want to tamper with.  
  
For he had the power to regenerate when his body felt that death was close by, and his body would change. It had begun when he was seventeen, Discord the god of chaos had placed him on the brink of death by stabbing him with the element of harmony and left him for dead while he prepared the execution of the mane 6 and Princess Celestia, while Princess Luna had taken on the form of Nightmare Moon to betray Discord by getting on his good side.  
  
Drake was bleeding heavily but Princess Celestia’s phoenix gave her life to give Drake the ability of regeneration, with this power he was brought back to life and wiped out Discord. But at a cost, none of his friends could do it, and this meant that he could be young and healthy while he watched his best friends on their death beds. Every time he saw a pony other than the two princesses he saw nearly every single day, he couldn’t help but think of them in about fifty years, they’d be withered and some of them would already be dead.  
  
This led to him making sure that every six days out of the seven he spent an entire day with the mane six, either baking things with pinkie pie, bucking trees with applejack, fitting new clothes for Rarity and helping design new ones for ponies, he even made time to help with all the tiny animals with fluttershy, being with rainbow dash had its difficulties because he couldn’t fly nor run fast but he did read loads of daring doo books with her and it didn’t bother him when she was so tired that she fell asleep on his chest as he read to her like a filly.  
  
Twilight though had more plans that just reading or baking, she took it to the next level of knowing far more about him now. She ran blood tests, brain tests, physical tests, personality tests and even wrote down everything he said in a journal on studying humans. A few times he glanced at what she was writing and even though she tried to hide it he did find out that she was highly interested in his regenerative ability and comparing it to existing DNA of phoenix.  
  
But all together he was happy, he had an Alicorn fiancé and a great sister in law.   
  
Since princess Celestia controlled the sun and, to her displeasure, was more accepted than her sister was, she was incharge of going to different places in order to discuss policies and govern the large cities as well as monitor the smaller towns. This meant that she was out of the castle every few weeks, sometimes for many days at a time which left Drake alone in the castle.  
  
Now, he wouldn’t mind so much if he hadn’t got carried away a few months ago.  
  
What happened when she first had to leave for a day to go to manehatten was that he was allowed free reign of the castle but not to leave the grounds of Canterlot Castle, to which he agreed to. The next few times he was given space a little more but had to travel with armed guards, that, he didn’t like but understood why princess Celestia would ensure it. Because with the element of magic still magically joined with his body it could be dangerous and highly explosive if other ponies with bad intentions got their hoofs on him.  
  
But after a while he could travel to ponyville without worry on his own, it took a lot of persuading Celestia as well as her sister Princess Luna, she didn’t want him in danger but was more relaxed than her older sister was. So she went with him to Ponyville instead of the royal guards which was more relaxing but it was hard to determine which travelling companions attracted more attention.   
  
Then there came a week in which Princess Celestia was out for completely, Drake had unfortunately been given too much freedom and without either of the royal pony sisters permission nor knowledge, had organised and hosted a party.  
  
It was supposed to be a small party with music but it…escalated, rapidly.  
  
Ponies began inviting other ponies to attend and those ponies invited others who brought friends, in just an hour the castle was overrun with ponies, different races of creatures came from far.  
  
They brought cake, party streamers, cider and many other drinks. Drake didn’t expect it to go so far so when Princess Celestia returned home, entered through the large purple doors to find the main staircase inside the castle covered in streamers, empty bottles and loud music still on shuffle she was extremely far from happy.  
  
After the shouting from Princess Celestia along with scolding looks from Princess Luna he was ultimately banned from leaving the castle when Princess Celestia was gone. He had to be watched by the guards and to clean up the castle which took a very, VERY long time without magic.  
  
He didn’t care about the cleaning so much as the glares he got from Princess Luna, because she had this…not unnerving, but also not disappointed look in her eyes, even when Drake had his back turned he could feel them burrowing into his back.  
  
It was the only thing that got on his nerves about Luna, he did cherish her though he really did. Princess Celestia may have been the first royal pony sister he met but Princess Luna was the alicorn that he met at the party that Pinkie Pie threw for him as his ‘Welcome to Ponyville party’.   
  
So being “grounded” with Luna walking around the castle was not the worst thing to happen, there was still a great deal he didn’t know about equestrias past so she explained the paintings, the statues and once she even gave Drake a flight up to the tallest tower in the castle, the view was breath taking as they could see over the hills and beyond the giant waterfalls.  
  
But the one thing that Drake never ever took her for granted for was the times when he knew that his friends would move on in life and into death, that he could just talk to her, because she had been through the same feelings and events that he would eventually go through. Because when she was nightmare moon and imprisoned in the moon, she dived deep into emotional hell as she realised that everyone except for the one alicorn that sealed her away would die, all her friends and even royal guards that had been kind to her would all be dead.  
  
It was just small conversations they had, but it kept Drake happy and sane. Sometimes though, it did get a bit too much for Drake when the weeks were up and the holidays slipped away through the years, but Princess Luna had no problem holding a weeping human as he held her tightly.  
It didn’t bother her though, because he knew he had no one else to talk to, his fiancé princess Celestia was also immortal, but she kept busy with the politics and laws. And she had been through the exact same pain before so she was more than willing to listen to him and talk with him, some nights she even asked to have these conversations with him just for herself, losing all her friends over being dark still hurt her to this day.  
  
Two years and five months had passed since Drake had defeated Discord and won the heart of Princess Celestia, much to say was that everything in Equestria was now back into its full balance, sweet apple acres in Ponyville had much stronger numbers of trees and Rarity’s boutique was even gaining so much popularity due to the fiancé of Celestia, Drake, constantly being asked where he got his clothes from since to be able to make clothes for a being from another universe would take amazing detail and skill. He always replied that he visited a lovely shop in Ponyville run by a unicorn called Rarity, since then her shop had grown in leaps and bounds, she even had a constant royalty customer from the over side of Equestria. Twilight Sparkle had been seeing a very smart and funny unicorn called Star Gazer, they had hit it off amazingly well and had so much to talk about to each other, he loved reading just as much as she did but also taught her a few star signs that she did not know.  
  
Drake sat alone in his and Princess Celestia’s bedroom, their bed was a very large but comfortable bed surrounded by high white ceilings and bookshelves. After he had proposed to her she had considered that they move into the same room and he never said no to that.  
  
But now she had gone out of Canterlot to do something that Drake didn’t catch since she had said it when he was still waking up at the time with just one eye open, so now many of the guards had gone home for the night and the rest had departed with Princess Celestia, but he wasn't fully alone because Princess Luna knocked on his bedroom door then entered quietly.  
  
“Good evening Drake, I was just…wondering if you had eaten yet?” she asked gently as she poked her head around the door. He uncovered his hands from his face and breathed out loudly.  
  
“No, not yet.” He sighed and stood up, a head rush hit him and his vision went starry but he carried on walking towards her. When Celestia left him alone on his own he did become slightly depressed, mostly because when the weekdays he spent with the mane 6 were up, he wanted to spend Sunday with her but she didn’t. He didn’t want to start an argument over it since he knew perfectly well that she was still the ruler of Equestria even if she was engaged.  
  
“Come on then, the kitchen staff have gone home which means free cake.” She giggled lightly, it was hardly a secret that Celestia liked cake but it was all hushed that Luna did. Drake chuckled as well, he preferred cake to anything else since it reminded him of older days in Equestria when he first arrived.  
  
“What flavour?” he asked as they walked down the corridor, doors led off to different rooms after many metres to give Princess Celestia and Drake security on space.  
  
“Chocolate.” She replied, instantly though she realised she had made a mistake.  
  
The one thing that Drake had always loved and refused to share with anypony expect his fiancé was CHOCOLATE!  
  
Their eyes locked together and that’s when Princess Luna knew right there, that she had better start galloping!  
  
She sped off at lighting speeds with Drake falling far behind, darting between the corridors she found out she had the advantage when she flew down the stairs whereas Drake could only run.  
  
After a few flights of stairs though, she looked back to see that he was nowhere in sight so she stopped to catch her breath and leaned on the banister of the main stairway of the castle. The kitchen was just beyond the staircase so it she trotted the last few feet and used her magic to open the bronze metal doors and walked into the dark kitchen.  
  
It was very large, it had to be in order to cater to the whole of Canterlot castle as well as both royal pony sisters and Drake, but as Princess Luna walked in, she found all the lights out and none of the candles were lit. Drake had certainly not been in here before her. Using her magic again, she lit the candles and looked back out into the hallway to still see Drake hadn’t joined her.  
  
Suddenly with an almighty bang followed by a blinding flash of light from within the kitchen, she spun around just quick enough to see a figure explode through the candle light and smash into a stack of bronze pots and pans sending them crashing to the floor in an almighty din. The candles that Luna had carefully lit quickly extinguished themselves and she was left in the darkness once more.  
  
“What the hell!” Luna was heavily startled, using more of her magic she lit up her horn with an illumination spell and began to gently trot through the dark kitchen. Her hoofs echoed and bounced off anything nearby.  
  
“Hello?” she said aloud.  
  
“Beat you!” she jumped back when Drake sat up excitedly, sending a few pots scattering across the floor.  
  
“What the hell did you do?” she didn’t understand how he suddenly appeared out of thin air like magic.  
  
“With this.” Drake held up a small LCD screen with wires hanging out of it connected to a motherboard. “Teleport.” He stood up and let the pans still resting on his legs clatter to the ground. “You and Celestia can use magic, now it’s my turn.”   
  
“Is regenerating not enough?” She usually teased him about it but he knew she never meant harm by it because she was mature enough to know when to stop the teasing when it got too much, Luna didn’t like bullies and didn’t want anyone to see her as such.  
  
“Teleporting is more fun.” He replied and gingerly put the fragile device into his trouser pocket.  
  
“Doesn’t look like you’ve worked the bugs out yet.” Princess Luna giggled, she levitated the brass pots and pans into a tidy pile on the kitchen island counter.  
  
“Just needs running in is all.” Drake didn’t sound very confident.  
  
“You don’t sound confident.”   
  
“I’m not.” He responded, Drake walked over to the large white fridge and heaved on the door handles till it swung open, the kitchen staff made it look so easy with magic since it pulled the entire door at once rather than pivoting it on a hinge. “No cake at all.”  
  
“Oh dear.” Princess Luna sounded disappointed after running and flying all the way through the castle to the kitchen.  
  
“We’ve got eggs though.” He replied in a perky voice.  
  
“I’m not in the mood for an omelette.” She dully said.  
  
“I meant we could bake our own cake.” He chuckled, grabbing a carton of large eggs in one hand and a large jug of milk with the other. “Grab the butter and chocolate sprinkles, I’ll get the lights on.”   
  
He placed the ingredients onto the centre island counter and then jumped over to the wall near the door Luna walked through to turn the lights on, they flicked on silently and he saw the gleam from Luna’s blue eyes sparkle like starlight.  
  
“Catch!” Luna tossed a packet of chocolate flakes towards Drake who caught it and began to mix up the cake mix, he grabbed a knife and scales, measured out the mass needed and added it to a large bowl that Luna slid over to him along the stretch of the white kitchen counter.  
  
Amongst other ingredients, Drake and Luna had prepared a very large a tasty looking cake that once cooked and cooled was quickly served up by Luna cutting it and giving Drake a small slice the same size as hers.  
  
“What time is Celestia back?” Drake asked as he bit into the slice of cake, he was sitting on top of the counter of the kitchen with his feet resting against the counter so his knees were at a right angle. He held his slice of cake with one hand in a napkin.  
  
“About seven thirty.” She replied, she was more dignified while eating her slice of cake by using a silver fork and a chine plate, she broke off small pieces of the chocolate cake and chewed each piece before swallowing it.  
  
“And it’s already four…” Drake looked at his watch on his wrist, gold with ruby and sapphire jewels, a present from Princess Celestia from last Christmas, it was very flashy but it was nice to look at it and to be reminded of her, although he would have preferred something more subtle… “So I’d better be off to bed before she gets home.” He wrapped the last bit of his chocolate cake in the napkin and hopped off the counter.   
  
He walked over to Princess Luna who stood a mere three feet from him.  
  
“Good night Luna.” He hugged her tightly and she hugged him back using one hoof.  
  
“Good night Drake.” She replied and watched him walk out the kitchen door. “I’ll be up in a minute!” she called out to him.  
  
“I don’t need tucking in!” she heard him call back to her, this made her chuckle lightly.  
  
Princess Luna didn’t spend long downstairs on her own after Drake left her side, she quickly finished her cake and put the rest in the fridge for later, if her sister didn’t get to it first.  
  
Making her way up to her room was easier than coming downstairs since she was not racing anyone to the kitchen, the stars shone brightly against the night sky when she looked outside, the problem was that she couldn’t see their beauty as everyone talked about because she organised them herself so when she looked at them all she saw were imperfections and the thought of having to do it all again the next night.  
  
She sighed and continued to walk up the spiral stair case to her room, it was not far from her sisters and Drake’s room so when she saw that their door was open she poked her head round it to see the lights were out and in the bask on the moonlight through the window by the large double bed was Drake sleeping soundly, his clothes hung loosely and roughly dropped on a chair against the wardrobe built into the white circular walls that made up the large oval room.  
  
“Drake…you asleep?” she whispered into the room, he didn’t respond so she lightly and silently crept into his room, as she got closer her plan was just to whisper a thanks into his ear and then see if he knew in the morning.  
  
Even as she got tiptoed towards him she never made a sound, now she was just a few centimetres from him, he had pulled the covers up to his chest and his right arm hung over the covers for a chill breeze on it. She bent down and whispered into his ear…  
  
“Thank you for the…”   
  
But just as she was whispering, Drake suddenly turned over in his bed which took Princess Luna by surprise and she didn’t move backwards in time, this led to her lips suddenly locking with Drakes.   
  
Inside her head she was screaming in shock if anything, he was her sister’s fiancé, this was all wrong…so why had she not stopped kissing him?!  
  
‘Stop! Just stop!’ her mind shouted and bellowed at her!  
  
It took her two seconds to break the kiss and regain her legs from turning to jelly.  
  
‘That can’t have just happened!’ she thought to herself. ‘Maybe I’m dreaming!’  
  
No, this was no dream and it was certainly real enough.  
  
What was wrong with her? She had no feelings for him, maybe just as a friend but nothing else, did she?  
  
No! She can’t have! She couldn’t! He was off limits!  
  
How could he be off limits if she didn’t have feelings for him already?  
  
She had to get out of that room and back into hers before he woke up, that would just be too awkward to explain and with her sister’s wedding just a few weeks away now was not the time to say she had just kissed her own sisters fiancé!  
  
She didn’t hang around and was quickly in her own room before she even realised it, her ceiling of stars swirled overhead, the constellations moving fluidly around each other was a mere attempt by her subconscious to calm her down but it did nothing to help. In fact with thoughts and fears running through her head she found the swirling constellations to be nauseating.   
  
She leaned against her bedroom door and then slouched down it till she was lying on the floor, she wondered if she should tell her sister what happened, would she be angry?  
  
Would Drake be angry? Would she be sent to the moon for kissing him? Would her sister yell at her? Make her an outcast?   
  
Tears ran down her face now, she didn’t mean for any of this to happen! Why didn’t she just go back to her room?  
  
“Stupid Luna…” she muttered to herself.


	2. A Trip to Ponyville

Drake cracked open his eyes as the sun’s rays hit his face, he pulled the duvet up over his head to hide from the blinding light but knew he had to get up.  
  
Suddenly the covers were pulled off the bed and he looked to see a tall white Alicorn standing at the foot of the bed with the duvet being grasped by her magic.  
  
“You are not wasting the day away young man.” Princess Celestia said sternly and flung the duvet into the corner.  
  
“Can’t get up…it’s er… human tradition to sleep in if your fiancé tells you to get up.” Drake joked.  
  
“You tried that before.” Princess Celestia retorted.  
  
“Did it work?” Drake asked half asleep.  
  
“If it didn’t the first three times you tried what makes you think it will work a fourth?” her tone never did come across as joking. “It’s two weeks until Christmas and you said you’d promise to help set it up!” she snapped and dragged him out of bed.  
  
“Alright, I’m up now!” he snapped back and stood up, his eyes burned in the sun so he was almost walking with his eyes shut as he walked down the stairs behind Princess Celestia. “What time is it?”  
  
“It’s six o’clock so you can have breakfast while you discuss the plans for ponyville with my sister and the mayor of Ponyville.” She told him.  
  
“But planning stuff is so boring!” he whined.  
  
“Get used to it, being my husband will mean much more planning going on, just be glad I’m not dropping the wedding plans on your head.” She never stood for his whining.  
  
“You don’t let me help because of important reasons.” He replied, they arrived at the spiral staircase which led down towards the main staircase of Canterlot Castle and ultimately towards the meeting hall.  
  
“You wanted to have a dj for the ceremony.” She knew he liked electro music rather than classical.  
  
“I wanted to have fun.” He knew he had really put his foot into it when the words left his mouth.  
  
“Keep this up and you’ll have fun on your own.” She snarled as they reached the bottom of the spiral staircase.  
  
“I’m sorry…” he muttered.  
  
“You’re what?” she beckoned.  
  
“I said I am sorry!” he spoke louder and clearer.  
  
She ignored him presently and they continued to walk towards the meeting hall.  
  
It was a painful silence as Princess Celestia continued to walk in front of Drake while he hummed a tune to himself.  
  
“Stop it!” Princess Celestia snapped loudly.  
  
“Sorry.” He apologised quickly, finally they were at the entrance of the meeting hall.  
  
“Twilight is waiting for you inside, as well as a few others trying to prepare the world for Hearts warming eve.” Princess Celestia opened the doors and held them open for Drake to walk through.  
  
When he walked in, he saw a large finely polished table in the middle of the even larger room, many ponies sat around it waiting for both royal pony sisters and Drake. He saw that Princess Luna had not joined them yet and must still be asleep.  
  
Drake rubbed his face with his hands to try and wake himself up, that’s when he tasted what was left on his lips. Drake thought back to the night when they ate cake but he couldn’t remember anything after that.  
  
He licked his lips and found an unusual taste on them, chocolate obviously from the cake, mint from the toothpaste he used before he crashed into bed…but also the taste of lavender and he had no clue where that came from, the only lavender thing around the castle was Princess Luna’s natural scent so he though it down to being next to her last night.  
  
He saw his best friend Twilight Sparkle standing to the left, a grey pony with a red mane and tail with the cutie mark of a scroll with a red ribbon around it, a few other ponies dressed smartly and finally he saw three empty seats at the far end of the table beside Twilight.  
  
“Good evening your highness, and good ev…” the grey pony bowed to Princess Celestia and she nodded in return but when he went to greet Drake, he asked for a casual greeting rather than the formalities.  
  
“Who are we waiting for?” Drake asked as he looked over the plans for ponyville, ideas had been sketched for such as massive ten foot Christmas trees covered in lights and tinsel, all the houses were planned to be wrapped in wrapping paper and the street lamps were to be covered in mistletoe with the bulbs to be replaced with Christmas lights.   
  
“The mayor of Ponyville hasn’t turned up yet.” Twilight replied and shuffled some papers.  
  
“Nor has she replied to any of the letters I’ve sent her.” Drake said quietly and slouched down in the chair beside Twilight, Princess Celestia sat in the middle chair so Princess Luna would have to sit in the left chair.  
  
He heard the door open again and looked up to see a slightly smaller dark blue alicorn walk nervously into the room, she looked at the ponies sitting around the table who also stood up and bowed to her like they had done for her older sister.  
  
“Morning Luna.” Drake greeted her as she sheepishly walked to stand beside him, Drake didn’t notice her hesitation nor the constant way she glanced at him and then back down to the floor or somewhere else, just not to look at him or her sister.  
  
“Hello Drake...g…good sleep?” she asked him, her heart filled with anxiety while she stood next to him.  
  
“Yea, but can’t get this taste of lavender off my lips.” He replied quickly and once again licked them, the taste of strong lavender popped up again, he handed a flyer to the grey pony to sign who then handed it to Twilight to file.  
  
Princess Luna’s heart jumped into her throat as she feared that he knew about last night, lavender was her potent scent and nearly everything she touched became fluid in the smell.  
  
“Is…it a bad taste?” she asked nervously, suddenly hoping to get off the subject before her sister suspected something, Princess Celestia though was completely unaware, even as if she knew but just didn’t care because it happened all the time, of course it didn’t but Princess Luna felt even more anxious about it.  
  
“No…just wondering what it is…” he replied and looked through some more papers. “Look the mayor obviously has other stuff to do so we should do these ourselves.” Drake snapped and shuffled some papers.  
  
“I agree.” Twilight Sparkle added, Drake smiled to her, it made it happy just to see her outside and the two of them doing something different than spending time together because only one would live forever.  
  
A painful three hours later and Drake could finally walk out of the meeting room with Princess Luna, for the past hour they had both grown hungrier and more bored as time ticked on, it was only nine o clock but Princess Luna was more tired than she cared to think about.  
  
“That was boring.” He said as they walked together towards the kitchen, Drake planned on eating another slice of cake the two of them had made the night before, Luna however didn’t feel like eating.  
  
“Don’t need to tell me twice, I was there.” Princess Luna yawned quietly.  
  
“Oh, I almost forgot, are you doing anything today?” Drake paused walking and stood opposite her, they had stopped right at the foot of the main staircase, a few ponies such as servants, cleaners, kitchen staff and even a postal pony walking around them like a diversion.  
  
“Oh…er… no I’m not, why?” she asked, she ruffled her wings by stretching them out and nearly doubling her height as she did so.  
  
“Well I’m heading down to Ponyville with some of the royal guards to check out a pony that’s gone missing, probably just been dodging the sights of other ponies, being anti-social and call but Celestia wanted me to check it out just to make sure.” Drake replied and Luna’s ears pricked up.   
  
“And you’re inviting me?” Luna asked, she wasn’t stupid, she knew what someone was implying before anypony else did, sometimes though she jumped the gun too early and thought someone was saying one thing when they completely meant another.  
  
“Of course.” He replied.  
  
“Sure, it’ll be fun.” She smiled to him at the thought of going to Ponyville, but instantly felt horrible due to knowing she shouldn’t feel like this. Would she even be able to spend any time around him without feeling awful ever again?  
  
It was mid-day when Drake, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna plus six of the royal guards gathered in the courtyard to go to Ponyville, the winter sun laid down a slight warm embrace upon them all but being still in December Drake had to wrap himself up in a coat. The one he decided on picking to go to Ponyville was a full length grey wool great coat with gold metal buttons along the cuffs.  
  
Celestia wasn't going herself but she was going to give them a little bit of help by using a teleportation spell to drop them off in Ponyville, Princess Luna stood close to Drake and the royal guards formed a formation around them for protection.  
  
“Be careful Sweetie.” Princess Celestia gently said to Drake and he broke away to stand close to her, his coat flapped in the wind that blew around his legs.  
  
“Don’t worry, I’m sure that it’s nothing sinister.” He reassured her and kissed her on her right cheek, Princess Celestia quickly turned slightly to kiss him on the lips.  
  
“Gotcha.” She smiled and he did as well, Princess Luna felt nauseous.  
  
“Right then guards and Princess, to Ponyville!” Drake cried out and clapped his hands together.  
  
He regrouped with the group of Luna and the guards who stood firm in their formation.  
  
Princess Celestia’s horn began to glow brightly and then Drake’s vision began to swirl around, he was used to this by now since he had been teleporting to many places in the two years he had been in Equestria with his fiancé.  
  
Suddenly a blinding white light filled the entire world and he almost fell down but kept his balance, in just a split second he saw the many features of Ponyville like the library, the school and even the town hall.  
  
Once the light died down he was able to see that they were on the outskirts of Ponyville.  
  
“Where to first, guards?” Drake asked loudly and one of the guards broke formation to walk towards a small house that stood on the side of Ponyville, it was a red bricked home with thatched roof and a small patch of grass out the front with a white picket fence running along it and a small purple mail box with the flag up, letters poking out the front; clear signs that no pony had been to the house in ages.  
  
“This house belongs to a pony called rose Petal, the local flower pony. She went missing a week ago and now we’ve been called in for fresh eyes.” The guard that spoke was a unicorn who held up a scroll using his magic.  
  
“Tunnel vision.” Princess Luna muttered to herself.  
  
“What’s that?” Drake quickly asked.  
  
“Nothing.” She quickly answered.  
  
“Well eight ponies and people inside it is too many, so I and two guards will look inside while Luna takes the others for the rest of the houses to ask around.” He pointed to two of the guards to show that they go with him and the rest go with Luna.  
  
She quickly walked off with the guards Drake had told to go with her but every few seconds she kept glancing back to him, he was looking through the window at the front of the house with his hands cupped to get a better view.  
  
The three of them stood at the door and Drake looked in through the window that stood next to the front door.  
  
“So no pony is in?” he asked as he cupped his face to look in through the window.  
  
“No pony, we’ll have to ask the mayor for a key.” One of the guards replied and began to walk towards the town hall.  
  
“Bad idea, she’s missing as well.” Drake said to the other guard.  
  
“How so sir?” The guard asked.  
  
“Who would, in a high demanding position of authority, say no to a meeting with both royal pony sisters?” He rhetorically asked. “How long will he be?”  
  
“He’s a slow trotter sir, may take half an hour sir.” The guard replied and Drake sighed loudly.  
  
“Can’t we just break it down and explain later?” he asked and the guard chuckled.  
  
“No sir, only if a pony’s life is in danger sir.” The guard responded.  
  
“Hear that?” Drake turned his head to look at the guard.  
  
“No sir, I can’t hear anything.” the guard replied.  
  
“Sounds like a pony moving around in there, they might be tied up and not missing.” He replied and winked to the guard, only then did the guard understand it.  
  
“Oh yea, I think I can hear some pony in there, sir.” He winked back to Drake, the guard eyed the door and worked out where to buck it to break it down.  
  
“One thing though.” Drake added quickly before kicking the door in himself. “Don’t call me sir.”  
  
The door flung inwards so quickly that when the hinges reached their limit the entire wooden door burst off them and crashed onto the floor leaving dust to burst upwards into the air.  
  
“Your doors here are weak.” Drake mumbled and reached inside to find a light switch inside the house, he couldn’t see one as the house was so dark that he could even see the first foot in front of him.  
  
The guard he was with though was a Pegasus so he couldn’t use magic to light it up, so Drake had to carefully walk inside making sure where his foot was before he put pressure on it.  
  
“Be careful, if you get hurt then it’s my head for the Princess.” The guard said in a serious tone but Drake was already too far into the darkness to be seen. “Still there?”  
  
“Yea, I’m fine.” Drake replied from within the darkness, the guard could hear him moving around, the wooden floor boards creaked and a few objects crashed to the floor as Drake bumped into them.  
  
The Pegasus guard stood nervously on the door step waiting for Drake to be seen or a unicorn to walk past.  
  
Thunder rolled loudly overhead and the guard looked up to fear the rain to pour down while he was on the job. The thunder grew closer and closer but a royal palace guard was not afraid of sound.  
  
A loud crack of thunder made the guard turn his attention towards the house again, he still couldn’t see far in.  
  
“ARGH!” the guard heard a scream and that’s when he made a bolt for the darkness, but he was bashed aside by a larger creature that shoved him to the floor, a large dark blue winged pony that took him a second to realise that Princess Luna had moved at lightning speeds into the house.  
  
FFZZTT….BRGGHHH!!!  
  
Princess Luna lit up the entire house with an immensely powerful light spell that blew away all aspects of the darkness, Drake was lying on the floor when the light from Princess Luna’s horn lit up the entire house with very powerful magic, she was growling as she snapped her head from one side of the house to the other, her eyes locked onto a dark blue tarpaulin that covered a very large object that sat at the back of the living room, it balanced itself on top of a sofa that was crushed beyond use.  
  
She bit down tightly onto Drakes grey great coat and began to drag him out of the house.  
  
“Ah goth ya!” she mumbled with the fabric gripped between her teeth, she dragged him out of the house and into the defence of the six royal guards. She let go of his coat and leapt over his body, firing a warning bolt at the floor and showing a very terrifying pose.  
  
“Luna!” Drake yelled and stood up, she blocked him walking back into the house though.  
  
“Why did you scream?” she growled without taking her eyes off the large object, it slopped at the front and also slightly at the back.  
  
“Because I hit my leg on it, it was dark and I couldn’t see it.” He told her, her anger dropped considerably.   
  
“So…it didn’t attack you?” she asked sheepishly.  
  
“No.” he replied and walked slowly into the house again, this time being allowed to walk around Luna. “You tried to fight it?” he chuckled and Luna stood up properly now.  
  
She tried to think of other reasons than she didn’t want him to get hurt because she sort of liked him.  
  
“Well…you are my sister fiancé…and my best friend…and…”  
  
“Aww, you’re so cute.” He laughed and she smiled, but as soon as he turned away from her she let it drop.  
  
He reached out to the tarpaulin but Luna used her magic to stop him.  
  
“DRAKE!” she yelled. “You don’t know what that thing is, I don’t think that Rose would have been able to put it in here by herself, and it looks kind of sinister.”  
  
“Luna, I think I know what it is…” he replied without looking at her, he gripped his right hand onto the tarpaulin and yanked it off.  
  
His eyes fell upon something that indeed did slope down at the front and at the back, his stomach did flips as he instantly knew what this thing was.  
  
“Drake, what is it?” one of the guards asked.  
  
“Get this to the castle immediately, section off this house and no pony is to enter it.” He told the guards who the Pegasus ponies flew off immediately towards the castle. “Luna, contact your sister and get me an audience with the greatest world scholars that are alive in the castle. This thing is from my world and I don’t like that.”


	3. Preparing for a Wedding

The balcony that stood next to Drake and Celestia’s room now held up only Drake as he watched the guards drag the metal object across the courtyard, midnight had arrived but Drake was not tired nor would he be able to sleep, ponies were missing and something had slipped from his world and into Equestria. This didn’t add up, discord was in a deep, deep sleep so there was no way he could do this.  
“What’s on your mind?” he heard Princess Celestia from behind him, he turned slightly to see the tall white Alicorn walking up to his left side.  
“I didn’t know that you’d still be awake at this hour.” He replied and switched his attention back to the guards.  
“You’re worried and I can feel it as well.” She gently wrapped a white wing around him and held him close to her.  
“It’s happening again Celestia, something has come from my world and into this one, I fear for ponies lives again…if something happens to my friends and it’s because of me….” he began to tear up but Princess Celestia used her mane to wipe them away quickly.  
“It won’t be the same Drake, Equestria is stronger now and we are more prepared for an attack.” She kissed him on the neck but it was like he didn’t know she did it.  
“We can never be fully ready Celestia, I won’t anypony else die. That thing will only be the start.” He held her wing with one hand.  
“Well don’t worry, but just think that in two weeks it will be our wedding.” She whispered into his ear, to which Drake gave a huge smile.  
“I love you.” He replied to her and she smiled as well.  
“I love you too.”   
  
  
  
The morning arrived but Drake had not slept a wink, the royal guards had just been bombarded with missing pony cases and Drake kept looking over them, it had started with before he went to bed he peeked at one of them just for a look. Then he opened it and scanned it quickly, and then he was comparing and before he knew it he had laid all the documents out on the bed and around the floor.  
“Why are you all going missing?” he moaned to himself as he scratched his head, none of these ponies had anything major in common, the only things that ponies had in common were then wiped off by being completely different to the other cases.  
A sharp knocking on his door made him lunge for it and opened it to the sight of Shining Armour.  
“Drake…it’s two in the morning…what is so important?” he groaned as he wiped sleep from his eyes, his well-groomed mane of blue streaks was no a complete mess.  
“I’m sorry Shining armour, but these cases are growing by the day and something is not sleeping, because whatever the hell it is it’s taking ponies by the hoof full.” He picked up a document with the picture of a grey Pegasus pony with a blond mane and tail. He knew this pony, her name was Derpy Hooves, the first pony he had met in this world.  
“Well I’m worried too, but you can’t drag stallions from their sleep.” Shining armour picked up a document himself and looked at it. “We’ve got guards in all the city’s but for them to keep disappearing under our view is just ridiculous.”  
“That’s what puzzles me, Discord is in a state of Limbo so he’s got nothing to do with this I don’t think, but they get going missing, and with this thing coming from my world I don’t believe in coincidences!” he almost yelled as he pointed to a spot outside the balcony with the document.  
“Speaking of which, I want you to take me to see it, Cadace won’t let me sleep until I can promise her that it’s not dangerous.” It was more of an order than a suggestion.  
“Come on then.” Drake sighed heavily and tossed the sheet into the pile on the bed, Princess Celestia wouldn’t be happy about the mess but it would have to wait.  
The tarpaulin covered metal object sat in the main hall underneath the set of stairs that led off from the main set. Drake gripped it tightly and then ripped it off; he looked at himself in the reflection and saw the state his hair was in. Matted and dripping with sweat from very late nights, Drake felt knackered and Princess Celestia also felt terrible for letting him fall into that state.  
“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.” Shining armour said quietly.  
“It’s called a delorean, an old car from my world.” Drake noticed that Shining armour had the expression on his face of confusion. “We use them to travel around in.”  
“So…is it dangerous?” Shining armour was worried about going near it.  
“Nope, no engine, no wheels and no gear box, this thing is junk!” Drake exclaimed and kicked the bonnet. His red shoes left a black scuff mark on the front.  
“Thank Celestia for that! May I go back to bed now?” Shining Armour sighed heavily.  
“Yes, yea sorry I kept you up.” Drake apologised quickly and let Shining armour walk through the main hall doors and back to Princess Cadence, to which he presumed that he would receive a very angry letter from her about taking her husband into long hours of the night.  
“You’re still awake?” Drake spun around to see Princess Luna standing on the main stairs.  
“Oh, hey Luna, I was just seeing Shining Armour out.” He replied and slowly pulled the tarpaulin back over the half built car and headed back upstairs.  
“You shouldn’t beat yourself up over those missing ponies, you need to sleep Drake. Depriving yourself of it will only make this job ten times harder.” She gave him a stern look and deep down he knew she was right.  
“I know, but I just can’t sleep right…” he murmured as they walked up the white stairs together.  
“Find my sister and just talk to her about this, it’ll help I promise.” Luna reassured him.  
“I’m not the type of guy for ‘talking’ about my feelings.” Drake replied as they were now standing outside his and Celestia’s bedroom.  
“Drake, seriously, just try…” she told him now.  
“Fine, but only because you won’t stop if I don’t.” he pointed at her as he walked into his room.  
Princess Luna breathed heavily when she was alone and wiped a small tear from her eye with his mane.  
  
  
“Why is there paper everywhere?” Princess Celestia stood next to the large bed for both of her and Drake, he looked around the floor and noticed all the piles of paper that he had strewn everywhere.  
“Sorry, I was…trying to figure something out.” Drake replied and ran his fingers through his sweaty hair.  
“On a different note, did you talk to the wedding planner who we want to play?” she used her alicorn magic to shift the paper and folders around so they were neatly stacked upon her dressing table.  
“Well we both want different things, you want to hire the fancy pants society and I want a dj.” He replied and hopped onto the bed, followed by a stern look from Celestia.  
“It’s been a tradition to have the orchestra in royalty weddings.” She almost growled as she climbed onto the bed and laid down.  
“Well I think we should focus more on the Hearths Warming Eve celebrations, it is in a week.” He reminded her, she sighed and looked out the window to a scene of windy trees and frost on the window.  
“Shouldn’t be long before the snow now.” She changed the subject quickly and then returned her attention back to her fiancé, who was once again looking through a folder report of a missing pony. Gritting her teeth, she grabbed the folder with levitation and threw it across the room.  
“Sorry…” Drake immediately apologised. “I just can’t sleep that’s all.”   
“Well why don’t you talk to me about it?” she asked and pulled the sheets over herself and Drake.  
“You have been speaking to Luna?” Drake asked in a monotone.  
“She gives me tips….” Princess Celestia replied gently.  
“Fine then, I’ll talk about it.” He gave in and she pulled him tightly to her with her wing.  
  
  
  
The morning came at a slow pace for Princess Celestia, with bags under her eyes and a sleeping human at her side; she told herself NEVER to listen to advice from her sister again!


	4. Spa Date

The soft sounds of the hot spring lakes on the border of Canterlot and Ponyville had been something Drake had planned on going to visit at some point in his life but was continuously overlooked as big events cropped up, then lots of small events, less amounts of small events, one small event a week, then a month, eventually Drake shifted it to the back of his mind and paid no more attention to it.  
  
Now though he was standing on the edge of the massive lake with Princess Luna and for the first time in a very long time; princess Cadence. He enjoyed her company to an extent but found Luna to be more…enjoyable was all he could say, he never told anypony but Cadence just didn’t excite him by being around him. He felt she was more involved in further affairs that only concerned the Crystal kingdom to which he never needed to pay attention to, she was very political and Luna was somepony who didn’t constantly carry on about that dam crystal kingdom.   
  
Drake was wearing a roughed grey shirt that was something that was never seen in the public eye as he was now royalty so that was a big no no, he was also wearing a pair of red swimming trunks so he could get wet. He quickly took his top off and began to lower himself into the water, the steam rushed up to greet his face and the hot water was so comforting for him. Admittedly he had not had a shower or bath in a week…maybe three…Celestia had not been home for a while so he didn’t need to worry about his personal hygiene around her, he had been incredibly busy with a sudden flurry of missing pony reports he had gathered by going to Shining Armour as well as many other guards.  
  
Princess Luna trudged up the hill that had to be overcome in order to reach the hot spring lakes, she spotted Drake’s messy black hair in the water and knew he had gotten in without them. Her blue mane swirled gently in the still air and she was quick to drop her satchel down beside the lake and she too gently walked into the water.  
  
“Why didn’t you fly?” Drake had his eyes shut and his head laid back but he knew it was Luna.  
  
“Erm…” she had reasons, she was certainly not going to say she didn’t want to fly because she wanted to walk with him even though he walked further ahead of her. “Tired wings.” She lied.  
  
Drake didn’t argue, he never fully understood the anatomy of Alicorns and to be truthful, he didn’t want to; Drake didn’t want to know about the insides of his friends. Plus the whole magic thing was far beyond his understanding.  
  
Princess Cadence strolled past the two of them at a leisurely pace, she never rushed anywhere if she didn’t have to, not lazy but she showed her regal side a lot more than Luna did. Drake felt that Luna was more of a teenager and Celestia was certainly older than her but he couldn’t be certain of how old, sometimes she was very mature and looked after everypony, even taking on more work that he thought she could handle but to Drake’s amazement he always found that Princess Celestia completed everything to perfection.  
  
Then there were times she was fun, once they both created a slip and slide down the royal staircase and raced down it, Princess Celestia had her moments of fun and he certainly had fun with her as well.  
  
Drake heard the water surface break again and he knew that Princess Cadence had gotten into the steamy lake with them, the three of them sat in a small part of the large lake that was about the size of a large Jacuzzi pool which meant none of them felt too close to one another.  
  
“Can’t I just get back to work?” Drake asked the two Alicorns before him, he didn’t like relaxing in these times, all he wanted to do was ensure safety among his friends and make sure the wedding was perfect.  
  
“No you can’t just get back to work.” Cadence chuckled and removed her tiara, setting it down on a small rock beside her.  
  
“I’ve never liked being in water to start with, I can’t relax like this.” Drake said to Cadence and she groaned.  
  
“Steam is actually very relaxing once you get used to it, you just need to let the worry melt away.” She liked to spend her free time in the sauna in the Crystal Kingdom so a steam lake was just an organic method of her relaxation.  
  
“What did you do on earth to relax?” Luna asked him, he looked at her when he spoke.  
  
“I guess I played video games to pass the time but relaxing…I never did truly relax.” He replied to her, earth was supposed to be a place of greatness but to Drake it never was. He looked down at the rippling water around his torso and thought of earth.  
  
He wondered if his family missed him. He had been gone for two and a half years, they would have known he was gone but no one would have known where. He had vanished at the start of his university degree’s when he was 17, many teachers had said he was very smart and learned quickly but he never saw it, he didn’t want to.   
  
His parents never truly cared, his older siblings, like a black hole, sucked up all the light in his life and ever gave any back. Being friends with people was something he had hoped for when he started university but… that never happened.   
  
Princess Luna saw a sudden flick of despair across Drake’s face and instantly shot Cadence an angry glance for her to shut up immediately.  
  
“Er… forget earth, tell me about… erm…” Cadence tried to change the subject but suddenly everything in her mind became about earth and what it was like for Drake. “Regeneration!” she blurted out and instantly regretted it, not because she felt it might have been a touchy subject but she found the princess of the night glaring daggers at her.  
  
Luna never ever brought up Drake’s regenerations, it was him dying and not something Luna liked to think about because before her sister imprisoned her in the moon she did have friends, colleagues that watched and studied the night sky she drew every night but it had never been enough for her at the time. Once she was released from her prison though she discovered almost instantly that everything had changed: the castle her and her sister shared was in ruins, the towns expanded and thrived without her, generations of foals had sprung and she knew that her friends were long dead. Luna never got to say goodbye to any of them.   
  
It had been 1000 years and… she couldn’t find their graves…  
  
She never wanted to think that one day her best friend wouldn’t regenerate ever again.  
  
“I’m sorry?” Drake didn’t hear what she asked. He looked up again to see Luna standing over Cadence in a menacing stance. Anger sometimes got the best of her and Drake knew that perfectly well, trying to play monopoly with her was almost a death wish but funny as hell to watch this sweet Alicorn start throwing a hissy fit.  
  
“Don’t answer that!” Luna told Drake and then switched her attention back to Cadence and was about to give her a yelling with the royal Canterlot voice but Drake butted in first.  
  
“It’s fine Luna!” he loudly told her and waved his hand for her to sit down.  
  
“No, it’s not!” she cried back. Once again though Drake told her to sit down but this time with strong tones, she did as she was told and sat down back in the steam lake.  
  
“You want to know about what I go through?” he asked Cadence and she nervously nodded, with a flick of his eyes his noticed Luna was also paying strict attention. “It’s like I’m fading and then all of a sudden my brain works at a thousand miles a second for a brief period of time.” He told them both, and they listened.  
  
“Fading?” Cadence repeated, “Fading how?”  
  
“Almost like going to sleep, like I’m not truly here.” He replied to her. “That ok Luna?” he rhetorically asked her, Luna blushed and turned away.  
  
“Did dying hurt?” Luna took a shot to ask, if Cadence could ask what was on her mind then she wanted to as well. “I fear it’s not something I will experience.”   
  
“Discord stabbing me hurt, the actual dying…no.” he said to her, he could remember dying very easily as it was only something he wanted to do once. Discord had stabbed him with the element of Magic which due to blood loss had killed him, but fate must have had different plans that day as he was resurrected by Princess Celestia’s Phoenix and with the element of Magic being fused with his body; he regenerated for the first time and defeated Discord by plunging him into a deep slumber.  
  
“I could have stopped him….” Luna looked down in despair and remembered how she sided with Discord and almost became Nightmare Moon again.  
  
“It doesn’t matter now Luna.” Drake told her, she looked up at him and realised what he meant. “We beat him, that’s what matters.”  
  
“The ends justify the means.” Cadence dropped in, however Luna didn’t feel the same.  
  
“How’s the wedding preparations going?” Cadence asked a different question and hoped it would lead to better and more enjoyable conversations.  
  
“Going fine, just wish it didn’t take a year to plan.” He chuckled and flicked away a small leaf that had been slowing floating towards him since he got in the lake.  
  
“You’re getting married, it should be perfect in every single way.” Cadence smiled and thought back to her wedding day; it didn’t go down how she wanted it to due to a few hiccups but she eventually wed her fiancé and they now spend near every day together happily.  
  
“Just want to spend every day with her.” Drake smiled to himself and so did Cadence, Luna didn’t; she felt alone in an overwhelming sea of others happiness. Jealousy. This happened 1000 years before but the variables were that this time she was hiding her envy of relationships. Did she not deserve it? To be happy? To be with somepony who cared for her and put her first before everything else? Maybe she didn’t.  
  
“Luna?” Cadences voice snapped her out of her depressing trance, she remembered she had to fake her mood so her despondency didn’t show.  
  
“I’m fine.” Her voice croaked and both Cadence and Drake stared at her, blinking.  
  
“I didn’t ask if you were ok, Cadence was talking to you.” He said to her. Luna felt uneasy, glad that Drake didn’t ask further but also it added to her doubting that he even liked her since he never once asked if she was ok.  
  
“What did you ask?” she turned her head slightly to indicate she was talking to Cadence.  
  
“I asked what you’re helping with, concerning Drake’s wedding.” Her voice was soft like silk and her mane wafted in the steam lighter than that.  
  
“I’m helping with decoration.” She replied in a flat tone.  
  
“That’s cool.” Cadence added and then returned her attention back to Drake like Luna didn’t exist. “And you’re excited?”  
  
Luna felt so small and insignificant around them both, Drake was this brilliant human who saved Equestria from her and Discord then there was Cadence who ruled over an entire kingdom with her husband.  
  
Luna…Luna just…raised the moon…and her sister could do that easily without her…  
  
“Really nervous to be fair, were you?” he asked Cadence, she chuckled.  
  
“I was held in an abandoned mine running up to my wedding day, whatever you go through I’m sure won’t be as bad.” Drake chuckled as well but Luna didn’t join in with the laughter. “I tell you what though, as a gesture of friendship, I’ll take over for a week what you plan for the wedding and you go back to Ponyville as a sort of stag week.”   
  
Drake suddenly became very happy, he hadn’t seen his old friends in ages!  
  
“Serious? That would mean the world to me!” he exclaimed and Cadence instantly saw how happy he was.  
  
“Yea I’m serious, you need some time to be with your friends while Princess Celestia enjoys some girl time.” She nudged Luna to add in but Luna wasn’t paying attention.  
  
“Huh?” she gasped.  
  
“Never mind, but seriously Cadence, this means the world to me!”   
  
“Well you saved it, you deserve it.”


	5. Back From the Future

Kavooo-chzzzkkkk!  
Around the town centre of ponyville, every unicorn felt it first as a buzz of pure energy echoed around them like a mild electric shock.  
The town hall stood strong and rebuilt in all her glory as she towered over the small ponies and fillys playing and working. Three fillys ran past an apple stand hosted by an orange mare with a blond mane and a tail that was done up in a knot at the end, holding onto her western hat; she told the fillys to slow down.  
“Hold ya horses you three!” she cried out as they almost collided with her apple stand.  
After turning a sharp corner, the white unicorn of the three stopped immediately and began rubbing her horn, her eyes squeezed tightly shut in pain.  
“Sweetie bell, what’s wrong?” the yellow furred earth pony asked, both she and the Pegasus mare had stopped immediately to check on their friend.  
“I don’t know, I feel the same when Twilight Sparkle visits my sister for work.” She replied, rubbing her horn she began to look around.  
The pain eased off her horn as quickly as it arrived, opening her eyes fully she looked at the mares and colts wandering around the town centre, and then suddenly from an alleyway between a mane salon and a groomers walked out a tall human with black hair and scruffy facial hair; she immediately knew who it was and jumped a foot into the air with excitement.  
“DRAKE!” she yelled and her voice cracked as she hovered in the air for a second and then sprinted at full pelt towards him, Applebloom hot on her heels and Scootaloo jumping high and flew into Drake’s arms.  
“Hey sweetie bell, hope you girls haven’t been getting into trouble.” He chuckled and let Scootaloo back down onto the floor, she was quickly replaced by Applebloom jumping into Drake’s arms, and she wrapped her front legs around him and squeezed tightly.  
“Geez Applebloom, don’t choke him!” Scootaloo laughed and Sweetie bell joined in with a small snicker.  
“Ah’m sorry, it’s just been so long!” she cried back as she hopped back onto the floor.  
“Felt like years to me.” Drake smiled as he looked at them each individually for a while.   
“Excited?” Sweetie bell was shaking from happiness and on the edge of exploding.  
“For what?” Drake had no clue what she meant.  
“You’re wedding silly goose!” Applebloom replied, nudging him gently.  
“Wed…oh yea!” he cried out, a smile popped across his face but then vanished quickly. “Is it really that close?” he looked around quickly to look at the buildings, vaguely familiar to him, his gaze was like he was remembering very distant memories.  
“You’ve been pushing yourself to far Drake, your wedding is just a few days away, and you need to rest.” Sweetie bell told him, he flung back around to look at them again.  
“Sorry, I need to speak with Twilight Sparkle.” Drake said quickly as he ran off towards the end of town, the library was not too far away but you had to run to get there in good time. “We’ll talk again! I promise!” he cried out as he ran.  
The cutie mark crusaders were left as a three again just standing around aimlessly.  
“Think we’ll see him before the wedding?” Scootaloo asked.  
“Doubt it.” Sweetie bell said miserably.  
The three of them walked tightly together towards the town centre.  
“We should tell my sister about Drake coming back, she knows him better than we do!” Applebloom said loudly.  
“Yea, that’ll cheer us up!” Sweetie bell shouted.  
So the three of them ran towards the stall that Applejack was holding, it didn’t take long to find it as it was the only apple stand around, but applejack wasn't around to be seen.  
“Where is she?” Applejack murmured as they scanned the shoppers for signs of the pony.  
A certain western accent came from around a corner and the cutie mark crusaders where instantly running.  
“Wait till we tell applejack about Drake…” Sweetie bell said as they ran, but as they twisted around a shop corner they encountered an odd sight.  
Drake was already standing next to Applejack and chatting away like they had not stopped, Applebloom thought that when Drake had run off from them to meet Twilight; he had come across Applejack and stopped to chat, but when they saw him he had stubble and when they saw him now, he was very clean shaven.  
“Girls!” he cried out when he saw them and instantly broke the conversation to hug them. All three of them were very confused.  
“When did you have time to shave?” Sweetie bell squeaked when she was let down.  
“What do you mean?” Drake asked with a puzzled look.  
“You were just standing with us, you had loads of stubble.” Applebloom replied, fluffing up her chin to make a beard look.  
“I’ve only just got here, the guards have literally only just dropped me off and then I found your sister.” Drake replied as he pointed to the Pegasus guards flying away in the distance back to Canterlot Castle.  
“That’s downright impossible!” Scootaloo exclaimed loudly and stomping her hooves.  
Drake breathed deeply and then exhaled.  
“Alright then…where did I go afterwards then?” he asked slowly.  
“You said you needed to go to Twilight Sparkle’s home.” Sweetie bell squeaked again.  
“Do you have a twin brother by any chance?” Applejack jumped in, her focus had now completely gone from the apple stand.  
“No, just me.” Drake quickly replied as he began to bite his bottom lip.  
“Then who went to Twilights house?” she asked.  
“Seems we’ve got a doppelganger running around that shouldn’t exist.” Drake breathed in sharply as he focused in his head a visual map of ponyville, sketching out the quickest way to Twilights house and cross referencing it with the side by side mind of Twilight Sparkle because of the element of harmony he had been fused with.  
In his head he could hear her thoughts, Twilight was cleaning and dusting books, Spike was out of the house in town centre as well but she didn’t know exactly where. The doppelganger had not made an appearance yet but Drake didn’t have time to wait.  
“Right, cutie mark crusaders…” he bent down on one knee so he was eye level with them. “I’ve got a mission for you, Spike is in the town but I don’t know where, find him and take his to Twilight Sparkle.” He told them and they shot off faster than an average Pegasus pony.  
“You’re going to Twilight straight away aren’t you?” Applejack asked as it was just the two of them now.  
“Yep, and I’m guessing you won’t be far behind?” he asked sharply.  
“Ah’ll be in front of you!” she cried out in competition.  
“Better start running then!” Drake cried and they were off!


	6. Repaying Twilight

Twilight sparkle was reading a daring doo book in her home, she had made herself comfortable in her bed and was snuggled amongst the covers, her mane looked frightful with parts of it ruffled against the duvet. She had ordered to her home four new daring doo books and was steadily working her way through them before Rainbow Dash asked if she could borrow them.  
  
Spike was out for a while so Twilight had the library to herself and every few seconds of silent reading she would let out a soft “ooh”.  
  
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!  
  
Twilight jumped by the rapid knocking on her front door, the springs in her bed softened the sudden bounce but a short few seconds later came another set of rapid and loud knocking on her front door.  
  
“I’m coming!” she cried out, yet the knocking persisted and she leaped out of her bed to get to the door but being wrapped up in her duvet acted like restraints, making that she had to use magic to fling herself out of the covers just to trot downstairs to the knocking on her front door.  
  
She grabbed hold of the door handle and flung the door open.  
  
“Hi.”   
  
Twilight was shocked to see her friend Drake standing on her doorstep, his face was unshaven and his clothes look rough and worn but still somehow managed to look smartly dressed, that seemed to be almost like magic how Rarity was able to accomplish that.  
  
“Hey, what’s up?” she was not expecting him here at this today.  
  
“I wanted to say hi, that’s all.” It felt weird to him to just say hi, because that is literally what he would have given everything up to say that exact word to her, just hi.  
  
“Well, hello.” She smiled and giggled, was this a human tradition that she did not know?  
  
“I’ve missed you.” He tried to keep his composure but an emotion inside him began to claw and shred his insides.  
  
“I’ve missed you too.” Twilight replied, she used her hoof to ask him inside, Drake did not hesitate to walk inside.  
  
“Did I ever tell you that your home is beautiful?” he asked her and looked around.  
  
“Is something troubling you Drake?” Twilight shut the door and grew concerned about her friend.  
  
“Yes…” he couldn’t tell her, he just couldn’t so he make something up and quickly. “Canterlot is boring.” He said in a monotone.  
  
“Well you are welcome here anytime.” Twilight said to him, it was at that point that Drake couldn’t hold it any more, just listening to the soft tones in Twilights voice bit into him harder than anything ever had before.  
  
Tears rolled down his face and he fell to his knees hugging the unicorn tightly, she smelt of lavender and old books, to him that was the greatest experience in the world.  
  
“I…I’m so sorry Twilight! I am so sorry for everything that happened because of me!” he cursed himself under his breath, Twilight was highly surprised to hear him say that, he had never had a moment like this in two and a half years since Discord took over Equestria.  
  
“Hey, hey there’s no need to worry about that.” She consoled him and hugged him back tightly, she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and he wrapped his arms around her sides, to him he was not hugging a purple talking unicorn, he was hugging his best friend he loved deeply and refused to believe otherwise. “What happened to you?” she asked worryingly.  
  
“Horrible stuff.” Is all he could bring himself to say, tears would not stop as he buried his face into Twilight’s mane.  
  
He sat down on the floor and crossed his legs so he Twilight was now resting on his lap.  
  
Twilight Sparkle did not mind him infact she loved his company and could not bring herself to say no to him about anything, he never asked of anything that was too much of her.  
  
And then she remembered that she was going to give him a present that had not left her yet, but didn’t know if it was ok to give it to him while he was in this state.  
  
“I’ve got something for you.” She levitated over a large purple book that had been her strife over the past six months, kept secret from him was hard enough while still trying to get things prepared.  
  
Drake sat back and let Twilight place the book into his hands.  
  
“Open it.” She really wanted to see what his reaction to it was.  
  
Drake gently opened the cover and laid his eyes upon the most beautiful hoof stitched art work he had ever seen, it was of him in a dark blue shirt, messy black hair and white jeans, his shirt was untucked on the left and draped over his hand that was in his trouser pocket.  
  
“That’s me.” He held back tears and turned the next page, the next two pages were many pictures of him and Pinkie Pie, them inside sugar cube corner, them eating cupcakes, them walking and some pictures were even as small as just him and Pinkie Pie sitting on a bench.  
  
Pinkie Pie had made a massive fuss over Drake when she first met him and refused to let him become an outcast or feel out of place in Ponyville, she held a HUGE party for him and he had made loads of new friends because of her.  
  
Drake turned the next page and it was of him and Rainbow Dash, the cyan blue Pegasus that acted like a sister to him, a sometimes annoying and dare devil sister but a sister nonetheless.   
He remembered the time that he taught her how to dance like humans did which quickly became one of his best memories in his whole life.  
  
He turned to the next page and saw pictures glued to the two pages of a white unicorn with the most gorgeous and pristine purple mane and tail, Rarity. When he first met her it was because he did not have any clothes that would fit him, that moment when he first saw her he knew that she was the true image of generosity. She went out of her way to make sure that everything was to his standard and went beyond it.   
He wished so hard that he could have spent more time with her before he knew what would happen to her.  
  
Just to have one more day of ignorance.  
  
He quickly turned the page before it got too much but that helped by no means, because the next page was of applejack, the western pony’s accent made Drake want to talk to her continuously just to listen to her. But he knew the last true words she would speak to him and it sent sickness coursing through him. He remembered when she asked him two and a half years to help build houses with her and her family, even though he knew what followed after that day he would still give anything to be that person again.  
  
He almost chocked on tears when he turned the page and saw the next pictures were of Fluttershy and him, the most quiet and softest Pegasus he knew, entirely different to Rainbow Dash and her tom boy attitude. When Discord had taken over two and a half years ago it made Fluttershy turn into an almost soldier, he tried desperately to bury that image of her in his mind but looking through those photos just reminded him again.  
  
Twilight saw that he was trying to say something to her, she thought it was of happiness so she turned the page for him.  
  
Dam it.  
  
It was pictures of her and him together, talking, reading, even some very old ones of when he first met her.   
  
But there were a few he didn’t remember, pictures of him and her in a large green field.  
  
“Where…where were these taken?”  
  
He asked her gently, he was so close to tears, he didn’t know what they were of, happiness or sadness, and maybe he didn’t want to venture after the answer.  
  
“I found a spell that allowed me to turn memories into photos.” She replied softly, but… “Memories of dreams I’ve had.” She smiled and it sent Drake over the edge.  
  
He broke down into heavy floods of tears; part of him didn’t know why but didn’t care. Tears fell from his eyes and onto the pages of the book.  
  
“Drake, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked nervously, she put her foreleg around him and held tightly, he in return dropped the book which landed with a heavy thump and wrapped his arms around her into a hug.  
  
“It’s things I cannot explain right now Twilight, but…but…I love you!” he sobbed into her mane and lifting her onto his lap.  
  
She too began to cry but she was silent about it, Twilight hugged him very tightly as well and shut her eyes; it was like they were the only two creatures in the whole universe.  
  
“I l…I love you too.” She was finally able to bring herself to talk.  
  
“I am so sorry…for not protecting you from Discord…” he wept into her mane.  
  
Twilight could only remember those three weeks far too well, when Discord had taken over Equestria, he made Twilight his ‘pet’ complete with a collar and taking her for ‘walks’ around Canterlot and Ponyville. When he was bored of doing that he chained her to the walls of his castle like a dog.  
  
“You don’t need to be sorry for what he did.” She squeezed him a little bit tighter.  
  
“I should have acted sooner.” He replied to her, returning the hug again.  
  
“But it’s all ok now, isn’t it?” Twilight Sparkle asked him, it was a rhetorical question because she believed that he was ok now.  
  
He was far from ok.  
  
Drake had not noticed that when he had dropped his photo book that the last page had flopped open.  
  
“Our friendship will keep us protected.”


	7. A Clash of Power

Twilight sparkle was preparing to decorate her Christmas tree, she was about to go out to collect it and had dragged the cardboard box of red, green and purple decorations out of her attic when there was another knock at her front door.  
Drake had popped round for a few minutes before and they had a long hug and a few exchanged words, he had been distressed by something; that she was sure of. He had left just five minutes ago just after giving Twilight a very emotional hug.  
“Hold on, I’m coming.” Twilight Sparkle cried loudly, teleporting from the side of the Christmas tree to the front door. As she swung it open though, her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as she saw both her friend Applejack and also Drake breathing heavily.  
“Twi…Twilight…have you seen…me I guess…”Drake panted heavily, Applejack was breathing easier than he was so she decided to comically fan him with her hat.  
“Is this a joke? Oh, is this a human tradition?” Twilight became excited to grasp at straws about earth and what the humans did.  
“Twilight please, did somepony that looked like Drake come round these parts?” Applejack was running out of patients.  
“Sure did, he just left a few minutes ago.” Twilight jumped back as Drake came running into her home and pulled out a small LCD screen from his pocket with wires hanging from the back of a medium sized circuit board. Darting around the room with bars and pie charts bouncing around on the screen, Drake seemed to be analysing the room. “What are you doing?” Twilight asked as she watched her friend jump around scanning everywhere.   
“Too high levels of unicorn magical activities, I can’t get a pickup of any changling activities, possible no activity but not ruled out.” Fixing his vision onto the pre made gadget he held lightly in the palm of his right hand, Drake couldn’t help but suddenly break away and look at the Christmas tree. “Didn’t know you had put up a Christmas tree.” Not looking at her eyes as he spoke, but more that he looked through her.  
“Bought it the last few days ago.” She replied. “What is that you have?” she pointed a hoof at the device that Drake held lightly.  
“Hypo sonic manipulation device, reads energy and radiation in the area around me, bit hazy though, hardly works.” Drake replied and refocused his attention on his device.  
“Is that…human technology?” Twilight asked, letting applejack lie down on the floor exhausted.  
“Sort of… my people created scanners that could pick up radiation at enormous distances, I just had to dip into the archives of Canterlot library’s to get the extra magic needed to make it work, thing is human and unicorn magic don’t mix well, can’t get it to work most of…” with a fizz and a crack, the circuit board fried itself and gave out a small puff of smoke that startled Twilight and Drake, applejack was still breathing heavily on the floor and the crackling wasn't heard by her over her breath.  
“So who is this, other Drake?” Applejack asked from upside down on the floor.  
“Don’t know, but I think he’s dangerous. Stay away from him.”   
Twilight suddenly remembered the picture book she had given the drake before.  
“Drake, I’ve… I’ve got a book for you.” She picked up the book with her levitation spells and it floated over to Drakes side.  
“Can’t right now Twilight, I’m busy.”  
“But it would only take a second.”  
“Twilight.” Drake snapped and faced her. “I don’t have time to look at one of your books, something important is going on here and I need to get to the bottom of it.”   
“So I’m not important?”   
“Not the most right now.” As drake turned away and began to walk to the door, the pain in Twilights heart ached with fury. “Applejack, keep an eye on her.” He ordered her and then left through the front door, as it clicked behind him, Applejack trotted over to her friend and brushed the tears from her eyes.   
“Are you alright sugar cube?”  
“He…he’s just horrible sometimes!” Twilight sobbed and threw the picture book down on the floor with great force, bursting open and a few of the pictures broke free from their holdings.  
“Those pictures…” Applejack bent down and peered at the photos, two of them had sprung from the book, one of them was a picture of Pinkie Pie and a massive chocolate cupcake, the other was a picture of Applejack sleeping under a small apple tree. “They’re of us?”   
“Yea, it was supposed to be a present.” Twilight tried to rub the tears from her eyes, but it was futile.  
Suddenly, a lot of shouting and screaming were heard outside, Drakes voice was heard as doing both the attacking and screaming, Twilight and Applejack feared the worst and burst through the front door and into a scene were the cutie mark crusaders were standing between Drake who was lying on the dirt with massive bruising and large cuts across his face, wrists and chest, and the attacker was…Drake? He had not shaven for a while and was the same Drake that Twilight had the company of being with.  
“HOW DARE YOU MAKE HER CRY YOU BASTARD!” Drake was screaming at the top of his lungs.  
“Twilight, help us!” Scootaloo was yelling, Applejack jumped between the three filly’s and the unshaven Drake.  
“What is going on here?” Twilight yelled. She was very scared when Drake who was unshaven gentle walked over to her and looked her in the eyes.  
“Don’t let anyone hurt you, because next time I won’t stop.”


	8. Interrogation

Sitting at the back of a small interrogation room with arms folded in what could only be described as anger, Drake cracked his knuckles and leant back in his chair, he was sitting behind a table and staring at the one way glass.  
Behind that glass stood a very battered and heavily bruised, shaven Drake. standing beside him was princess Celestia worrying out of her mind.  
“Who is he…he looks like you but he attacked you…” she began to fret, using one of her large white wings to hold her fiancé tightly against her body.  
“Celestia, I promise you I will get to the bottom of this.” Drake told her and lightly kissed her neck which sent shivers down her spine.  
“You know that tingles.” She chuckled and kissed the top of his hair. “And you need a shower.” She stuck her tongue out and tried to blow off the dust from her lips.  
“I’ll get on that.” Drake replied and looked back through the window. He felt weird looking at himself. “I can’t talk to him…me…whatever he or it is.” Drake spoke softly to her.  
“I’ll do it, don’t worry.” Celestia reassured him, letting go of him and walking through a metal door to their left.   
Standing before the unshaven Drake, Princess Celestia looked down at him with confusion and anger.  
“You attacked my fiancé.” She acted like an angry mother.  
“Shut up.” He spat at her. Princess Celestia was taken aback, no pony dared to speak to her like that before.  
“Excuse me?” she spat back.  
“Did I stutter? You want to know who I am and if I threaten you so just cut to the chase and ask it.” Drake leant back further and stared into her eyes, an aggressive act by any race.  
“Wh…who are you and where did you come from?” she became frightened quite quickly but continued to stand without falter.  
“My name is Drake, I come from the future. Same world but screaming in pain, I came back to stop a war before it could start.” Drake growled, Princess Celestia felt sick as she realised that this person was the same person she was hugging.  
“What war?” Celestia could feel her heart pounding in her chest.  
“THE war, the final war, the great war, what ever you can think of the biggest name for a war, that was it. Everything in the universe to battle against each other.”   
“And why do you hate me?” As soon as Princess Celestia asked that question, Drake sat up right and laughed.  
“FINALY!” he cried so loudly that Princess Celestia was startled. “I was just waiting for you to ask that!”  
“Then…why do you…” her voice cracked as she spoke.  
Drake leant forward and beckoned Princess Celestia to do the same. With hesitation, she leant forwards as well so they were only a few inches from each other.  
“Catch me and I’ll tell you.” He whispered to her, she was confused to say the least, he was right here so how was she supposed to catch him?  
Drake leant back and rolled up his right hand sleeve to reveal a brown leather strap on his wrist, he lifted up a small flap on top of it to reveal a small LCD screen with flashing pictures and charts.   
“What’s that?” Princess Celestia asked nervously and took a quick trot backwards.  
“Like I said.” He replied and pressed a button next to the screen. “Catch me…” and with that he suddenly disappeared into a flash of white light, all that was left was the chair that he had been sitting on.  
“Celestia!” she heard her fiancés voice from behind her as he burst through the metal door. “What the hell just happened?”   
“Call the guards, I don’t know who the hay he really is but he’s a danger!” she galloped passed him and began to run up the stairs that led back to the castle.  
“But…we know that time travel is possible!” Drake cried after her, he too was nervous because there was the small chance that the person was actually him.  
“Only with magic and that didn’t feel like magic to me!” Princess Celestia cried back as they burst out of a door that was underneath the main stairway of Canterlot Castle.  
“Celestia wait!” Drake cried out and she swung around to face him. “Tell me, there’s so much stuff going on with this world, far more than last time. There’s ponies going missing, stuff from my world leaking through to Equestria and now apparently there’s going to be a war and I go back in time with a vengeance against you.” Drake hung his head down and tried to breathe deeply. “I’m scared that’s all.”   
Princess Celestia walked over to Drake slowly and used her wing to lift his face up, she saw the tears in his eyes.   
“I promise you sweetie, we’ll stand together forever.” She told him and then kissed his lips. “I love you.”  
“I love you too.”  
  
  
Twilight sat alone in her tree home, Spike had gone again to see speak to Applejack to ask about the person that looked like Drake, he was concerned about his best friend Twilight and wanted to know more about him.  
A small candle stood on the bedside table of Twilights single bed, she was looking at the pictures that were in the scrap book that she and her friends had made for Drake. just looking over them now brought small tears to her eyes.  
“What the hay is happening?” she quietly asked herself and glanced at the moon outside her window when suddenly…  
TKKK-WHUMP-CRSHHH  
Twilight jumped straight out of bed and rushed to where the sudden din had occurred, she galloped to the room where all of her books were stored, as she ran into the room though she could see just about all of her books were laying on the floor, covering every piece of floor.  
Preparing a spell to attack intruders, Twilight feared that a dark creature had gotten into her home, she wouldn’t be surprised with everything that was going on at the moment.  
“Come out! Who are you?” she cried out with her horn sparkling.  
But out of the books mess, an unshaven Drake stood up quickly.  
“Twilight, sorry, it’s me.” He was out of breath and a leather wrist strap on his wrist was billowing out steam.  
“Everything that’s going on, I’m going to hear you out and listen to you…. Why do you look like Drake and who the hell are you?” she growled.  
“Long story.” He replied.  
“Long night.” She told him, and raised her horn as the magical energy dissipated.


	9. Twilight at Night

“So, you’re not physically possible?” Twilight Sparkle asked Drake in the moonlight, the candles in her home had burned out a while ago and she was too interested in Drakes explanations that she didn’t get up nor use magic to change the candles and relight them.   
The two of them had sat down amongst the pile of books on the floor, Twilight sat very close to Drake and listened patiently, her eagerness growing every second.  
“Sort of, time travel was sort of a one way ticket back here.” Drake replied, he held Twilight tightly against his side with his left arm, he glanced at the leather strap on his arm.  
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked as she snuggled deeper into Drake’s torso, it was very late now, Spike had not known nor was told that this was a different Drake than the one he had usually known. After spending most of the day out of Twilights home and doing chores, he had said a quick hello and then gone to bed. Twilight and Drake were alone now, the only thing Drake was aware of was the scent of Twilights mane which was recognisable as dusty books, like an old library, and a bleeping sound coming from the device on his wrist every thirty seconds.  
“As soon as I entered this time period, I merged it and become part of the timeline.” He squeezed Twilight just a little bit tighter. “I can never go back to my present.”   
Twilight took a few seconds of waiting with her eyes shut, Drake’s body heat kept her cosy while his voice acted as a lullaby for her.  
“What's your…” Twilight took a second to make a loud yawn, “…Hypo sonic manipulator doing?”   
“Emitting a low perception filter surrounding the library, no one or any pony will feel the need to come looking here for me.” He replied and shut his eyes as well. “Problem is that it will run out of power around nine tomorrow and then everypony will come hunting for me.” Drake said and could feel Twilight’s heartbeat against his own, her breathing made him think she was asleep on top of him.  
“You said there was a war…” Twilight seemed to push herself to ask it, almost asleep now.  
“Big one, too big in fact, it ruptured across time and space, I don’t know but they found something. Something that would allow dimension, space and time travel.” She shuffled against Drake to get a better position.  
“Like your manipulator?” She yawned.  
“In a way, that war spread across universes and time periods, whatever they used to command forces like that was big, too big to hide in this world.” Drake told her and stifled a yawn.  
“Maybe it’s covered up with a low perception field like we are.” She shuffled again and Drake held her tightly with both arms.  
“Could be.” Nothing Twilight said was anything he hadn’t taken into account.  
“Who fought in it?” Twilight asked gently.  
“Everyone, every species in the world.” When he said it, Twilight looked up at him with her big purple eyes.  
“What about your species?” a pause in the air made Drake tense.  
“Yea, they were there, along with thousands of other species.” Drake replied, his voice broke as he spoke.  
“What happened to them.” Twilight was now fully immersed in Drakes story.  
“I never found out, I time travelled just before the order was given to move in.” Drake replied and gently squeezed Twilight just a little bit tighter, she wrapped her fore legs around his chest and yawned.  
“We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” She reassured him.  
He kissed her horn and held her until she drifted off to sleep.


	10. Treason

Nine thirty in the morning, Twilight awoke to find herself resting on top of her friend Drake, after falling asleep together last night in the library she felt exhilarated to see him still asleep and with her. She glanced down at Drake’s left wrist and saw the leather strap that housed his hypo sonic manipulator, using her magic she gently lifted the cover of it and saw a small blue light blinking very slowly.  
As Twilight moved against Drake, he woke from the feeling and also saw the blue light fading quickly.  
“Good morning.” He said to her and stretched his legs outwards, Twilight jumped off to let him stand up and fully stretch out.  
“Morning sleepy head.” She smiled sweetly. “These books do need tidying up, there’s some breakfast in the kitchen…” she glanced at the mess of books that lay on the floor, every single book was off the shelves except for some that lay sideways.  
“I’ll help as well.” Drake said as he quickly began to pick up books and stacking them alphabetically and in colour coded on the shelves, something that Twilight Sparkle loved.  
In just a few minutes, all the books were back on the shelves and the library finally looked clean.  
“Ten seconds to go.” Drake said aloud after checking his device on his wrist.  
“Ten seconds till what?” Twilight asked.  
“Until the power runs out and the guards come looking for me.” He replied and shut the leather lid on his wrist device.  
“Hold on, present Drake said he had something like that…” Twilight began to trot around the room.  
“Yea, and I perfected it to fit inside a leather wrist strap.” Drake replied and held it up like he was proud. A loud electronic fzzt echoed around the room and it made both Twilight and Drake jump.  
“What in Celestia’s mane was that?” Twilight barked.  
“The power to the low perception filter running out, I can’t teleport anywhere now.” He looked worried now, Twilight thought that she could feel something like a thought buzzing around in her head. “Oh, crap, hold on.” Drake quickly slid next to Twilight so their faces were level with each other, she resisted the urge to blow on his face, to which Drake could not resist.  
“Hey!” Twilight beckoned and looked at what he was doing, he was pressing buttons on his device and then undid the strap that held it on.  
“Wear this.” He said to her and held out the leather wrist strap.  
“Why?” Twilight wondered what the need for it was.  
“The present Drake, your Drake can read your mind because of the parallel time lines and the element of magic running through his veins. This device is useless to me but it should block the psychic link between you. I bet it gets a bit scary after a while, having someone shift through your memories and thoughts like a folder.” Twilight nodded slowly and using her magic, she tightened it around her right foreleg.  
As soon as the leather strap fitted itself and her foreleg was covered by it, the thought in her brain ran away and she was left happy.  
“I… feel…” she stuttered.  
“Better?” Drake finished her.  
“Yea.” She replied, glancing out her front window and seeing five guards walking beside Princess Luna. Twilights heart began beating so hard out of fear that her quickening breath got Drake’s attention.  
“Twi, what’s wrong?” Drake asked and hopped beside her to look out the window, as soon as he saw Princess Luna, Drake suddenly lunged for the front door to run outside.  
“Drake! WAIT!” Twilight cried but it was too late, Drake was already outside and it caused Twilight to gallop out at high speeds just to catch up to him.  
“Princess Luna.” When Twilight Sparkle had run to Drakes side, he was saluting Princess Luna and standing at attention like a soldier.  
“Good morning Drake, good morning Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Luna greeted each of them individually and then used her hoof for Drake to stop saluting her. “I’m to believe Drake, that you are not from this time period.”  
“That is correct, I come from this future.” Drake answered her.   
“Princess Luna, your sister is looking for Drake, and I fear that… she’ll send him away.” Twilight told Princess Luna.  
“Don’t fret Twilight, my sister will not touch him without me allowing it, I promise.” She replied and nodded to Drake.  
“Thank you, Princess.” He said to her.  
“Drake, you’re almost my brother in law, there’s no need for formalities.” She replied and smiled.  
“Princess Luna, I’m completely different to the Drake that you know, I’m older, smarter, braver and faster, but most of all you saved my life and I will never be able to fully repay you until I die.” As soon as he said it, Princess Luna’s expression fell.  
“But… I’ve never… saved your life…”  
“In your future, my past you will.”   
“Guards, you can leave.” Princess Luna said to her guards and they teleported away after exchanging glances with each other. “Tell me how.”  
“Princess Luna, will all due respect, any mention of future activities could lead to catastrophic events…” Twilight said aloud but Drake bent down to her level and held her hoof.  
“Twi, if it’s ok I trust her, she saved my life and knowing that, I should tell her.”   
“I understand, if you trust her though.” Drake nodded to her and stood back up to a waiting Princess of the night. Twilight Sparkle was also intrigued to hear what happened in the war that made Drake afraid of enough to travel across time and give her so much attention.  
“In the war, the only way I could stop my species from killing, was to seal the walls of the worlds that had fallen, a paradox created ripples that had fled across the whole of reality and began to take ponies and other species from millions of worlds.”   
“Maybe this is the paradox.” Princess Luna jumped in.  
“No, this certain paradox was bigger, too big to imagine, something that would never happen and it broke reality.” He replied. “To seal the walls again I had journey into the cataclysm of the universe and take control. I burned at the centre of time and space, it was killing me and tearing me apart, but before I died you saved me.” Twilight had her vision fixed on Drake and her heart began to ache.  
“What about my sister? What does she do? You hate her for a strong reason and I want to know why.” Princess Luna couldn’t look Drake in the eye and had decided on looking at the floor.  
Drake took his time to answer.  
“She gives the order to kill everpony in Equestria.” Both Twilight and Princess Luna couldn’t believe it.  
“My sister would never…”  
“I was there, I objected and she banished me from Equestria. I watched everypony die, I watched my closest friends choke on their blood.”  
“Stop it, please…” Twilight begged, tears began to sting her eyes and her breathing became very erratic.  
“Sorry Twi.” He bent down and held her tightly.   
“Then how did you time travel without magic?” Princess Luna knelt down beside the two of them.  
“Like I said, you saved my life; you gave the last of your magic to send me here.” Drake and Princess Luna locked eyes, Twilight got herself together and Drake let go of her slowly.  
“Then…we’ll stop this war, together, whatever it takes.” Princess Luna said quietly to him, Drake smiled in reply but quickly faded when he looked over her shoulder.  
“You’d better stand on my side then, because your sister is paying us a visit.” He stood up immediately and so did Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna.   
Indeed was princess Celestia flying down with six Pegasus guards and her fiancé Drake on her back.  
“You know, I actually wondered if the perception filter would work on you Celestia!” Future Drake cried out to her as she touched down. “It seemed to have done its job alright though.”   
Princess Celestia was furious with future Drake, her facial expression did not hold back any anger, her teeth were bared and her eye brows arched towards him, present Drake hopped off her back and stood by her side.  
“You are to be arrested and sentencing for crimes against Equestria!” Princess Celestia scolded to Future Drake.  
“Luna, stand here.” Present Drake calmly said to Princess Luna and snapped his fingers lightly.  
She looked to future Drake who looked back at her, she knew just how to piss off her sister and her fiancé.  
Very slowly and nervously, she extended her right wing and unfurled it to wrap around future Drake that stood beside her, pulling him in towards her and holding him close to her.  
“N…no… I made my choice… there’s more g…going on here than you two let on…an…and I have to stop it…” she stuttered while locking eyes with her sister, she knew exactly that her sister always pulled her fiancé close to her, the warmth from Drake’s body always made Princess Celestia feel better and she made sure that Princess Luna knew this. “You… you always hurt me sister, you make me try… try and find somepony just to be with… and you now you refuse to act upon any of the severe issues that are occurring around Equestria!” Princess Luna held Drake tightly to her body and felt the nerves building up inside herself.  
“Treason.” Her sister snarled at her.  
“I own 50% of Equestria and ponyville falls under my jurisdiction.” When Luna finished, Princess Celestia’s eyes became as wide as dinner plates. “And as I currently run ponyville I order you to leave my friends alone and to return to Canterlot.” Princess Luna ordered her older sibling.  
“And I own the other half, as soon as I return to my throne room, I’ll remove your privileges outside ponyville.” Princess Celestia shot her sister a nasty look, future Drake felt Princess Luna’s wing droop slightly. “If you venture outside of ponyville, you’ll be arrested immediately and locked away for treason.”   
“Sweetie…that’s a bit extreme…” Present Drake lowered his head slightly.  
“No it’s not.” Princess Celestia snapped at him.  
“Ponyville is under my control sister, you are to leave im…immediately.” Princess Luna stuttered again.  
“I was leaving anyway.” Princess Celestia quickly turned around and Drake jumped back up onto her back, he was still clutching the circuit board and LCD screen with wires hanging off.  
Princess Luna, future Drake and Twilight Sparkle watched as Princess Celestia, her fiancé Drake and the six guards flew off back towards Canterlot.  
“That…that was awful…” Princess Luna began to tear up but quickly used her mane to wipe them away.  
“We need a plan.” Drake cracked his knuckles, beant down and undid the strap that held on the device to Twilight Sparkles foreleg.  
“Wait, you said that stops him looking into my mind…” Twilight became nervous but as soon as the device came off, she still felt like she did, the itching at the back of her mind was still gone.  
“Yea, after he realised he couldn’t look into it he wouldn’t bother trying again.” He replied and tightened it to his wrist again.  
“How do you know that?” Twilight asked.  
“Because he’s me and I know what I am like.” Drake replied and pressed three buttons on his device.  
“What’s the plan then?” Princess Luna asked nervously, she had never truly been involved in large attack plans, her older sister took care of all that.  
“We’re going to die another day.” Drake cracked his knuckles again and then spun around to face the unicorn and alicorn. “First of all, we need a base of operations, we’ll use the town hall, the mayor won’t mind me because I’m cashing in my favour for saving equestria to her. Next, Princess Luna, gather all of the mares and stallions of significance in a war, politics, weather and exportation of wares and goods. Twilight, look for a way to harness solar energy into electrical energy that I can use to overload my hypo sonic manipulator so I can short range teleport.”   
“And what are you going to do?” Princess Luna asked him as he began to walk away.  
“I’m going to pay a visit to miss rarity, I need new clothes and I’ve missed her too much!” he called back and kept walking.


	11. The Human's New Clothes

Rarity’s shop had been seeing quite a few customers lately but she could easily handle it, she had been resting today since it was the only day when the shop wasn't open and no one had placed any orders.   
She had been sleeping in for the morning with her night gown and a sleep mask on when she heard the classic jingle of her door bell.  
“Oh, can’t they read the closed sign?” she sighed and rolled over to go back to sleep but the doorbell rang again and she sat bolt right up in bed. “Oh for Celestia’s sake!” she cried out, her teeth gritted together she began to make her way down the stairs and using her magic she unlocked the door still with her sleep mask on.  
“Listen sweetie, it’s my day off, I’m sorry about this but everypony needs some time to rest.” She quietly said to the unknown guest and shut the door quickly to return to bed.  
“You finally took a day off?” the voice that came behind her door made her freeze in place.   
That same voice had been flooding her dreams for weeks now, the voice that frightened her nightmares away and gave her inspiration for some of her finest work.  
Opening the door again and taking off her sleep mask, she stared at the tall human that stood in front of her.  
“D…Drake?” she stuttered as her lips crept into a smile.  
“Of course.” He smiled back at her, she lunged at him and he fell backwards into the grass.  
“Too long! It’s been too long darling!” she squeezed him tighter and tighter.  
“I’ve missed you too much Rarity.” He squeezed her tighter, the flashbacks of the war in his mind sent chills down his spine.   
If this timeline keeps parallel with his own, then he may only have a few weeks before Rarity…  
“How’s life in royalty treating you?” Rarity asked as she helped Drake up.  
“Are you wondering which tailor is better?” Drake smirked and Rarity smiled a bit.  
“A lady does not dwell in competition.” She replied and offered Drake to step inside.  
“Tried telling Rainbow Dash that?” Rarity laughed at Drake’s comment.  
“There’s no changing her.” She noted and then looked at what Drake was wearing. “I would have thought that royalty would wear something a bit more outstanding.”   
Drake looked down at his plain black shirt and black jeans.  
“Yea, I should probably tell you about me not being royalty.” He replied to her.  
“How come?”  
“I’m not with Princess Celestia anymore.”  
“What? Why not?” Rarity was almost speechless at this outrage.  
“Promise me you’d believe me?” he knew he was asking a lot to her.  
“You saved all of Equestria six months ago, I’d trust you with my life.” she promised him.  
“I’m from the future, there was a massive war that involved the whole of reality, every world, every time line, every person, pony and creature possible. Princess Celestia ordered the death of every living creature that lived in ponyville and I came back to stop it.” He spoke quickly and bravely.  
Rarity took a while to process it but eventually came to her senses.  
“Hang on, if you are from the future as you say you are…”  
“Then there’s a second Drake out there, still in love with Princess Celestia and living in Canterlot Castle.”  
“And that device on your arm?” she pointed at the leather wrist strap on his wrist.  
“A device that tells me about the world environment and allows me to short range teleport.”   
“Just like Twilight Sparkle?” Rarity asked.  
“Exactly like Twilight, except mine is science, not magic.” He replied to her.  
“Well, please let me suit you up with some decent clothes at least, I believe…what do I call the Drake I know and your past?” she asked.  
“Just call him present Drake if it helps.” he replied to her and let her slip a tape measure around his waist and then his arms.  
“Still black shirts and red trousers?” Rarity asked him briefly.  
“Actually, you got anything with a military flare to it?” he asked her, Rarity’s eyes lit up when he asked.  
“Well the Drake in Canterlot ordered in something that might suit you.” She rushed off to one of the small tents that stood in her shop, quickly galloping out with a navy blue greatcoat, glimmering gold buttons fastened to the chest made it stand out very nicely.  
“Wow.” Drake was speechless at what Rarity had made, the stitching was firm and strong, the fabric was rugged but light to wear and just about everything about it was completely amazing.   
“You like it?” she smiled.  
“I love it Rarity.” He replied and she helped him put it on. “I may also need some more clothes for the weeks coming.”   
“Consider it done.” She gracefully accepted. “I am interested though, what did you have planned for this week?” she asked sheepishly.  
“Well, after this I’m meeting with Princess Luna at the hall about this crisis.” He replied and looked at the greatcoat from all different angles in a full length mirror.  
“P...p…princess Luna?” Rarity was almost speechless, meeting royalty was a major thing for her.  
“You should come.” He added without hesitation.  
“I’d love to!” Rarity squeaked.  
“She’s probably set it all up now, so we’d better head off.”   
In a flash, Rarity was by the front door ready to go.  
  
  
  
It was not long before they had reached the main hall of Ponyville, Drake dug his hands deep into his trouser pockets as Rarity opened the door.  
Inside was just about everypony that lived in ponyville, vinyl scratch, snipes and snails, miss cherilee and hundreds of other ponies that he didn’t know but had seen around.  
“How many did you tell Princess Luna to gather?” Rarity stood gawking at the mass of ponies.  
“Just a few.” He replied.


	12. Journey into the Forest

Drake breathed out loudly and walked over to the front of the massive crowd of ponies, princess Luna was talking to the mayor who had to crane her neck to look up at her.  
“Luna, how many ponies did you invite?” Drake asked her, she glanced at his eyes and then quickly down at the floor.  
“Well, I sort of began to invite small numbers of ponies, but then it sort of… escalated.” She replied.  
“I think they all need to know anyway.” He nodded to her and she bit her lower lip.   
Drake walked to the centre of the stage in the hall and clapped his hands together very loudly.  
“Alright everypony, listen up!” Drake cried out to the audience. “You may all be wondering why Princess Luna asked you to come here at such short notice!”  
“We were told there was going to be cake!” a mint green pony in the audience shouted out.  
Drake turned his head to look at Luna.  
“What? It was all I could think of…” she stammered.  
“The real reason you have been asked to attend…” Drake turned back to face the audience. “Is because in a few weeks a war will break out and you are all at risk!”   
No pony in the room spoke, they hung for every word he said.  
“There are a few things going on in this world that are aiding this war, the walls of the worlds are falling apart and I need to find out how and why, if anypony knows anything suspicious that has been seen around here they need to let me or Princess Luna know.”  
He expected loads of ponies to say things, things that would help him but none of them said anything.  
“Anypony?” he asked. “Anypony at all?” he asked again, still nopony said anything.  
“Drake, this seems like a bit of a lost cause.” He heard Rarity whisper from the front row.  
“Is it true you can regenerate?” a small timid voice came from the middle of the crowd, Drake looked to see a small grey filly with golden hair and a horn.  
“Sort of. When I travelled back in time, the connection between me and the element of magic was damaged, but the phoenix regeneration energy inside me still works fine. The engine works fine, but the spark ignition switch is a bit stiff.” He rubbed his eyes with his hands as he explained, and then realised he wasn't talking to humans so the ponies had no idea what his metaphor meant. “Something… from my world…”   
No pony said anything, they all began to stare of in different directions, Drake had had enough and stood up from his sitting down position.  
“Come on Luna, this is a piss take.” He groaned to her and she sadly nodded.  
“I saw eyes in the forest…”   
Drake’s heart skipped rapidly, his mind flew back to the first few months of being in Equestria, he had been helping Applejack and her family to raise houses for the less fortunate when he had spotted a pair of glowing eyes in the Everfree forest.  
“Mint Leaf, hush!” he heard what must have been the filly’s mother.  
“Sorry mummy.” The filly apologised.  
“Don’t be sorry.” He quickly spun around, “Where did you see these eyes?” he bent down again and pressured for the answer.  
“It was…erm…” the mint green filly pondered for a while.  
“Quickly!” Drake snapped.  
“The forest behind the schoolhouse.” She replied and Drake bolted through the crowd and almost broke the doors off their hinges as he took off.  
“DRAKE!” he heard Princess Luna scream after him.   
“Come on Luna! You and me! Together!” he cried out to her, she was standing on the edge of the town hall.  
“Just you and me?” she cried out to him again.  
“Yea!”   
There was no way she was letting this moment slip away now, she flew off the steps and across the grass to his side.  
“Let’s go then!” she cried out and Drake leapt onto her back.  
“To the school house!”   
Princess Luna took the sky with Drake on her back, the sun was setting and the moon was rising.  
“I missed this.” He spoke loudly to Princess Luna as the wind rushed through his hair.  
“So did I!” she chuckled happily as she beat her wings with tremendous force with each flap.  
Luna felt Drake let go of her body but his legs still gripped around her waist.  
“I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD!” he screamed and Luna let out a very loud laugh.  
“Something from your world again?” she kept laughing as she spoke.  
“Oh yes!” he shouted back, letting the wind wisp around his hair and finger tips.  
“There’s the school!” he heard Luna call to him and she began to dive bomb towards it. Drake regained his grip on her as they plummeted towards the ground.  
Princess Luna hovered above the ground for a few seconds before touching down, she felt the grass beneath her hooves and the weight on her back jumped off for a stroll around.  
“Anything we should be keeping an eye out for?” Princess Luna asked.  
“You saw those ponies before, if you see it don’t hesitate to stop it at any costs.” Drake replied.  
If was a while of looking through the trees before any of them said anything.  
“So, how are you and Twilight doing?” Princess Luna asked, she was using a magical light cast spell from her horn to light up the forest.  
“We’re doing fine, why do you ask?” Drake asked back, he was using his sonic manipulator on his wrist to cast a beam of light ahead of him to see where he was going.  
“I was just curious.” She lied, she was trying to do anything to talk to Drake, she missed hearing his voice and trying to hide the fact that she was madly infatuated by him.  
The sound of a twig snapping nearby made them both look to each other.  
“Pony?” Luna whispered to him.  
“I don’t think so.” he replied and pointed the device on his wrist at the part of the forest he heard the disturbance. “Come out.” He called out to the darkness, the lcd screen on his device was picking up life signs but none of that registered pony. “Carful Luna, I don’t think we’re after a pony here.”  
And then he saw them, out of the corner of his eye, a pair of yellow eyes that began to slither across the darkness.  
“HALT!” Luna cried out but Drake was frozen to one spot. “Who goes there?”  
The creature did not answer her questions and Luna was getting impatient. She began to move forwards but Drake stopped her by standing in front of her.  
“Just slow down.” Drake said to her.  
“I can handle anypony.” She replied, she knew she wanted to show off to him to impress him.  
“I don’t think it’s a pony.” He repeated himself.  
And then he saw the body to the pair of yellow eyes, small and black, thin and quick, this was no pony.  
“Drake, what is that?” Princess Luna asked nervously.  
“It’s called a heartless, come in many different sizes and all are deadly, don’t let it touch you.” He replied to her.  
“What happens if it touches you?” she asked.  
“You lose your heart and become one of them.” He whispered back to her.  
They watched the heartless bounce around mindlessly, its head swaying from different angles like it was searching for something in the sky. It hopped towards them but then suddenly fell to the floor, through the floor and then became nothing…  
“What the hay just happened?” Princess Luna shone her light at the spot where the heartless had disappeared and Drake swooped over to the exact spot.  
“WOA!” he cried out as he wafted the front of his nose. “What is that smell?”  
“What do you me…oh my gosh!” Luna cried out as well, “Do heartless always smell like this?”  
“I don’t know, these creatures are…sort of from my world, from a video game, how they even exist I don’t know.”  
“Kingdom Hearts?” Luna asked, Drake took off his military jacket and hung it over a tree branch.  
“Yea, this shouldn’t exist, even the heart of this world and your sisters keyblade, I don’t know why I didn’t pick it up sooner but with the walls of the world’s falling apart I am not surprised about this.” He replied and used the device on his wrist to begin a scan on the area that the heartless disappeared. “Smells like…nothing, I would have bet that this forest would have been FULL of smells, but there’s nothing, that’s just impossible.” he stood back as Luna began to look at the floor where the heartless had been. “ARGH! Bloody power drain! I can’t use this for a long time now!” Drake cried as put his military jacket back on.  
“Maybe you just need a keen eye to look at things.” Princess Luna said in a calm voice. She began to use a stick to shift the leaves around when it suddenly dissolved in what looked like glass but shrouded in light.  
“What did you do?” Drake asked.  
“Nothing, it did it by itself.” She replied in confusion.  
And then as if motivated by themselves, the leaves began to move, they fell through the ground just like the heartless did, leaving a large crack in the mud that emitted a white light.  
“Drake, what’s that?” Princess Luna moved backwards out of fear.  
“I think that would be one of the cracks in the world.” He replied.  
“Just like you were saying, from the war?” she asked.  
“Yea, like I was saying.” He glanced over his shoulder to look at Canterlot Castle. “I need to get in there.”  
“They’ll either kill you or arrest you as soon as you step in there.” She yelped.  
“If I can get to my past self first, I might be able to convince him to talk to Princess Celestia.” He said, Princess Luna ducked underneath him and then took off with him back on her back.  
“Then we have no time to waste!” she cried and they took off.


	13. Murdered by a Princess

Meanwhile in Canterlot castle, Drake sat in his room with his fiancé Princess Celestia comforting him with her wing holding him tightly, they both sat on their bed as Drake was surrounded by documents and pictures of ponies, some he knew and some he didn’t.   
“It’s just impossible, so many ponies are disappearing and I can’t find any clues to where they went or who took them.” He sighed heavily against her, she gripped him tighter.  
“Don’t worry sweetie, it’ll be our wedding soon and we can put this whole thing behind us.” She replied and kissed him head.  
“I guess so, it’s just…”   
“Sweetie, I promise it will be alright.” She let go and walked to the door. “I need to check on something, can you make sure this room is tidy before I get back?”   
“Alright.” He sighed and hopped off the bed, he heard the door click shut as he gathered the documents and pictures together into a single pile and then placed it on the table in their room.  
He got bored very quickly as usual just after a few minutes of lying on the bed waiting for his fiancé to come back so he pulled out the device he had been constructing, the LCD screen had been flashing slowly for a while now but he still hadn’t worked out how to shut it up as it wasn’t as easy to just install a silent switch.  
“What the hell do you want?” he breathed out as he watched the same numbers on the screen counting down randomly, it was certainly a countdown clock but the device hadn’t chosen a time yet so it kept fluxing.   
After a few more minutes of laying on his bed thinking about Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle and what could be a future self of him back in ponyville, he jumped off and slugged over to the bedroom door.  
Standing outside his room, he was able to see directly out of the large stained window that stood opposite his bedroom. Midnight, the moon was hanging brightly above the castle as its light shown down upon Canterlot.  
He could watch the ponies that were still awake wander around the town shops, pompous he thought to himself.   
“Pompous aren’t they?” he heard a voice come from behind him, he flung around quickly to see himself leaning against his bedroom door.  
“What the…oh please don’t mess with my mind.” Drake covered his face and crouched down on the floor.  
“It’s confusing I know, timelines are messed but you need to hear what I have to say.” Future Drake spoke to his past self.  
“You need to leave; I don’t believe that you are my future.” Present drake whined.  
“You’re human, you won’t believe something until you see it, and even then your brain tries to say no.” Future Drake opened the bedroom door and fell into it. “I missed you bed!” he cried and lunged for the bedding, as soon as his body smashed into the mattress.  
“Hey! Get out of there!” Present Drake cried out as he too ran into his bedroom to get…himself out of there.  
He slammed the door behind him and grabbed a wooden white chair to wedge under the door handle to keep it shut. Future Drake was bouncing on the bed, trying to reach the high ceiling to no avail.  
“Stop it! This isn’t civilised!” drake cried as he tried to grab future Drake off his bed.  
“Oh my god you are DULL!” Future Drake jumped off the bed and ran into the bathroom.  
“What are you doing now?” Drake whined again and ran into the bathroom as well.  
“Washing!” Future Drake shouted back as he splashed water on his face and wet his thick black hair. “Cause of you and your fiancé, I don’t have time to wash at Twilights place!”  
“That is not my fault and you… I know it!” he screamed. “Why are you here anyway?”   
“Luna and I saw something in the woods in ponyville.” Future Drake replied and shuffled past Drake to get back to the bedroom.  
“What did you see?” Drake asked and crossed his arms in frustration as Future Drake jumped back on the bed.  
“We found a crack in space that was absorbing anything that fell into it, it wasn't giving off any readings and just seemed to make everything void.” Future Drake replied and bounced off the bed again.  
“There’s been cracks here as well, things have even fallen through.” Drake told his future self. “But you know that because you are me.”  
“You finally see the truth about me then.” Future Drake walked to the door and removed the wooden chair keeping it shut, he walked out into the hallway and looked around.  
“Where are you going?” Drake asked as he ran after his future self.  
“I’m looking for Princess Luna’s room, she said there were enchantments there that could figure some things out.” He replied and ran down the stairs to the left of Drakes room.  
“It’s not down there!” Drake yelled after Future Drake.  
“I knew that!” he shouted back and ran the other way back up the stairs and past Drake.  
“What could possibly be in there that you need so badly?” he shouted after his future self and ran behind him.  
“She said spells and potions!” Future Drake found a tall dark blue door with a massive symbol of a half crest moon, opening it, the door swung freely and future Drake instantly starting looking through the bookshelf that stood to the left of the door. A massive dark blue bed stood in the middle of the room that seemed to possess no walls and no roof, it all just seemed to keep going, furniture and doorways stood alone, defying physics.  
“This room is just…woa…” Drake couldn’t take it in, he had never been in princess Luna’s room before.  
“Yea, sure is.” Future Drake was clutching scrolls and books when he ran back out of the room.  
“Hey! If Celestia see’s you she’ll stop you!” Drake yelled after his future self.  
“Not if I can get my teleport charged before she finds me!” he yelled back, his fingers were dancing across the screen of the device on his wrist.  
“You got a teleport?” Drake asked.  
“Built it, I think, I don’t remember.” He replied, the device began to flash and then gave a short burst of smoke. “Dam it, not had enough time to recharge.”  
“Then you are just going to have to sit and relax for a bit.” Drake told him.  
“I don’t do relaxing.” He replied, he had now made his way to the stairs when he found himself face to face with a tall white alicorn.  
“YOU!” she screamed at the top of her voice.  
“Sweetie, don’t do anything rash!” Drake jumped in between his future self and his fiancé.  
“Don’t stop me!” she yelled back at him, using her powerful magic to slam her fiancé against the large glass window that stood to the right of the massive spiral staircase.  
“Celest…what are you doing?” Drake chocked against the magic that dug into his throat.  
She slowly walked towards the future version of her fiancé, her eyes almost red from anger.  
“I ordered you to stay away.” She growled, her teeth were bared but future Drake didn’t fear her.  
“It’s been so long Celestia, we could have been brilliant but because of your orders to flatten the walls of the worlds, I have to stop you.” He whispered back to her.  
And that’s when he saw something…something in her eyes, he hadn’t been close enough before to see it, but it was like there was something looking back at him…  
“Who are you?” he whispered to her, her eyes widened and she took a step back.  
His mind began to whir and that’s when he began to work everything out.  
Princess Celestia’s horn glowed brightly, her fiancé dropped to the floor as her magic relaxed on him and flew towards Future Drake, the magic tightened around him and he dropped the spells and books on the stairs.  
“What are you…doing…” Future Drake chocked as the magic got tighter and tighter around him, his arms were squashed against his chest and his eyes began to bulge.  
“Making sure you don’t tell.”  
Just when he thought he was going to die, he was suddenly engulfed by a massive pool of darkness.


	14. Trapped Again

Just as quickly as being chocked nearly to death, Drake began to wake to a sight of stars everywhere. Drake was lying on his back looking up to visions of universes, nebulas and space.  
“Aw damit, let me guess, regeneration didn’t work so now I’m dead, well I guess this is better than an eternity of darkness.” Drake sighed and sat up; he found that he was lying on what looked like a massive long sheet of white light.  
“You’re not dead.” A voice came from behind him, rage built up inside him as he knew who it was. Princess Celestia!  
He jumped to his feet and turned to attack her with every ounce of anger he had in him.  
But when he turned around and saw her, she was a mess.   
Her mane was torn at the ends, her fur was matted and tangled and her eyes were red, but not from anger, but what looked like she had been crying.  
“I will kill you!” he screamed at her and lunged for her, she slammed against the floor as Drake brought her to the ground. “You killed my friends!” he screamed as he punched her over and over again.  
Using her magic, she quickly grabbed his hands and held him above her.  
“Drake! Stop it! Who you saw was an imposter!” she yelled at him.  
“LIAR!” he screamed and tried to fight the magic that held him back.  
“Where do you think we are? I’ve been trapped her for months!” she screamed back at him, her magic was fading fast as he strength began to die, the magic that held a violent Drake back was beginning to lose and he was getting worse with rage.  
He looked into her eyes as he seethed with anger. They were beautiful, not like the eyes of the princess celestia he had been looking at.  
“Why would I kill ponies?” she asked, he knew deep down that he might be wrong. “Please, Drake, I know you hate me right now, but please, my magic is fading quickly.” She began to breathe deeply and then the magic from her horn faded completely and Drake flopped on top of her.  
“I’m sorry.” He apologised, he knew now that there was something going on, far bigger than Equestria was concerned.  
“We need to get out of here.” She whispered to him but knew it was hopeless.  
“I could fill you in on what's been happening.” He whispered back to her.  
  
  
  
After what felt like a few hours, princess Celestia was completely filled in what had been happening, she knew everything that Drake did.  
“Heartless, cracks in the world, war involving the whole of reality, objects from your world fall into Equestria and somepony is imitating me.” Princess Celestia was sitting on her flank with her eyes shut. Drake sat opposite her with his legs crossed.  
“And we’re in the same predicament as two years ago, remember being on that island?” he asked her, her ears pricked up immediately.  
“Oh yea, that feels like so long ago.” She reminisced about the past, she giggled slightly as she remembered one particular memory. “Hey, remember the night, when we found those bottles of cider?”   
“Oh yea, we ended up getting so drunk.” Drake laughed out loud which set Celestia off, her laughter felt like cyanide candy floss to him,, beautiful and yet hurtful in a way only he could feel.  
The laughter died out after a few seconds and the memories of the war returned to Drake’s mind, images of death filled every part of his brain, unfortunately for him princess Celestia picked up on it. He didn’t realise that when they had stopped laughing, Drake had been staring at the floor and let his smile fade away.  
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” she asked, he looked up to her and then quickly glanced over the parts of his body that could be seen by himself.  
“What are talking about? I’m fine...” he chuckled, Celestia knew from the past year that he had never taken anything seriously and nearly always resorted to humour to hide his emotions.  
“Drake, I don’t even want to think about what you’ve been through so please don’t treat me like I’m an idiot.” She stood up and to the side of him, Drake hid his face away in an effort to make sure she couldn’t see him. “You’re battle damaged.”  
“Oh god it’s true.” He blubbered, tears streamed down his face and he didn’t try and hide it this time, he just let them roll out. He had been hiding these emotions for so long, seeing his best friends murdered in front of him and then still talking to them, it would be enough to crush anyone. “Some days I don’t even want to keep living.”  
“You can’t think like that, somepony is responsible for that and I don’t want them to get away with it.” She continued to stand over him, he didn’t even bother to try and dry his eyes when he slowly turned his head to look up at her.  
“What do you mean?” this time now, princess Celestia bent down to his eye level and gently kissed him.  
“You are my fiancé.” She broke away from the kiss and flapped her wings so they extended to their fullest, creating a gale wind that blew drake’s messy hair upwards and gave him a chill that ran down his spine. “No pony fucks with my fiancé.” She growled and breathed out heavily, her mane began to flow stronger than Drake had ever seen before.  
He pushed himself off the ground with his grazed hands so he and princess Celestia were eye level now.   
“I love you...so much...” tears were still running down his face, but this time they were joyful.  
She couldn’t admit to herself that she was not welling up either as she used her magic to pull him close to her, so close in fact that she could feel his heartbeat on her chest. “I love you too...”  
She may have let one, tiny tear loose that fell onto his clothes.  
“How are we even going to get out of this place...wherever this place is...whatever it is...” Drake looked over Celestia’s shoulder at the endless stars and nebulas around them both.  
“My magic would be like throwing stones at a sun even if I knew what this place was.” She replied, and then just like the magic itself, they both got the same idea. Slowly they leant away from each other and knew at once by just looking into each other’s eyes that they both knew what to do...unfortunately the emotion that carried the thought was fear.  
“An explosion of magic would be useless since this place holds us...” princess Celestia said.  
“But an implosion could rip the magical chains...” Drake continued her sentence.  
“And rule one of magic is...”  
“To keep the users safe, it would send us...”  
“Back to Equestria...” princess Celestia finished. “Do you know any magic that could cause even the smallest implosion?” she asked him.  
“I think you know my body causes a massive implosion if I might die...” he said. “Do you know any?”  
Princess Celestia looked down at the floor out of shame, Drake grew wary now, but when she looked up he could tell she felt mischievous from the grin that was getting bigger and bigger.  
“There’s a reason I had a pet phoenix.” She chuckled.  
“You can...”  
“...Regenerate.” they both said together.  
“No way.” He grinned at her too now, “Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“I wanted you to be in your own light and not a copy of me.” She bravely said.  
“If we both regenerate...”  
“We could die...” she slowly said.  
“We’d die together, you and me.” He kissed her again and just for one second, they felt unstoppable.   
“Let’s do it!” They both said together.  
“Alright, how are we going to start it off?” Drake jumped in the air and hopped Celestia would have an idea.  
“Erm...we could...no...how about...dam that won’t work...” she tried to think of a way to induce a regeneration but she couldn’t think of anything.  
“Don’t you know any spells that we could use to start it?” Drake loudly asked, he had left the comfort of her and stood about ten feet away.  
“Not one that will guarantee us safety.” She replied.  
“Safety isn’t a considering factor.” He told her and at the moment, she knew a spell that could set them both off.  
“Left over radiation from the power residing in the sun.” She coldly said.  
“That would set us off?”  
“Could kill us.”  
“Or we get back to Equestria.”  
“Shall I emit?” she was scared and Drake knew this, he walked over to her and held her tightly.  
“Do it.” He told her after kissing her for what could be the last time.  
It didn’t take long for Drake to start feeling like his body was being cooked from the inside, his breathing had grown weaker in such a short time and so had Celestia’s. He opened his eyes to see princess Celestia standing in front of him with a powerful white glow around her, her eyes were glowing with an intense light.  
He looked down at his hands to see they were also glowing with a powerful red glow, like his hands were emitting out steam just from his skin.  
And then...all hell broke loose, both their regenerations went wrong at the exact same time. Explosions inside their minds and their bodys felt like being ripped apart.  
“AARRGGHH!” princess Celestia was screaming at the top of her lungs and Drake was not far behind.  
Everything was going wrong, there was no way they could both survive this time.


	15. Resurrecting Chaos

It had felt like a thousand years since Drake had last seen his future self being teleported away by Princess Celestia, but in fact it had just been a few minutes, possibly ten, he wasn’t counting but it felt like it.  
He sat alone on the bottom step of the main spiral staircase in a fit of anxiety. His hands shook while he gripped his own arms trying to brave himself. His shuddering breath made it ever harder for him to calm down.  
Sunlight drifted through the glass pane that was the whole wall, the glass housing that held the staircase filled with light that refracted the sun rays into thousands of different shades of colours and images.  
Hoof steps behind him echoed around and instantly he knew who it was.  
“Whatever I did, I did for us.” Princess Celestia’s voice created a void inside of Drake’s heart, something that he couldn’t forgive…fuck, this was it wasn’t it he thought to himself? This was the reason why his future self couldn’t look at her like he had.  
“He was me.” He muttered, he wanted to shout it but couldn’t buck up the courage to say it any louder. He wanted to hate her, he wanted to hit her, but just thinking of it made himself sick.  
The hoof steps grew closer, louder, colder.  
“Sweetie, trust me, I know what he wanted to do, he wanted to break us apart.” It was almost a whisper in his ear now, a sinister whisper.  
He didn’t know who to trust in his life now.  
He felt like he was going to vomit, he had to get outside.  
“I’m going to ruin your floor.” He stumbled to his feet and burst out the double dark wood door that led to the early morning light, for once now, he was thankful his fiancé didn’t follow him outside. One for not seeing him vomit onto the grass and another because he felt something dark inside him stirring about her, doubt.  
He had never once doubted her since he met her so long ago, and now everything felt like it was accelerating too fast for him to keep up, he vomited again in the same spot. He spat out the remains in his mouth and tried desperately to think straight.  
He tried ever so desperately to think of something, anything, he begged his brain to think of anything at all, but nothing happened.  
He couldn’t get to Twilight, walking out of Canterlot was almost a jail sentence just for him now, a personal fixture. Princess Luna was in pony Ville as well, there was no way he would go to her either, never mind the jail, he didn’t believe for one second that she would greet him with open arms…er…forelegs.  
The mane six were out of reach as well, there was no pony he could go to now, he was alone.  
More alone than he had been on earth, and with an impending war about to strike he was defenceless.  
“Are you ok Master Drake?” he looked up to see an ordinary guard, nothing different about him, nothing at all, not a hair out of place, not a scuff or detail on his armour.  
“Why wouldn’t I?” he responded, the guard nodded at the vomit awkwardly. “Nerves.”   
“I know it’s not my place to say, sir, but I would be nervous as well.” The guard tried not to look at the patch of white and yellow fluid on the grass, instead he looked Drake square in the face.  
“What should I do then?” Drake was not a person to overlook anyone, be it species or rank. He was desperate for help now, it felt like nothing he could do would move the situation forwards, he had felt like that since his future self had granted him his first visit.  
The guard was thrown, he was shocked to say the least, Drake knew his significance in Equestria as he was the fiancé to Princess Celestia.  
“I couldn’t make that decision sir, everything just seems…” the guard paused for a minute, Drake straightened his back and stood upright since vomiting.  
“Impossible.” The guard finished.  
“Acknowledged.” Drake nodded to the guard who nodded back, saluted, and went on his way again back to his duties.  
Impossible……Impossible…. Impossible…  
Drake let it flip in his mind for a bit. The guard was true, everything had certainly taken a turn for the impossible, even the worst, he just couldn’t fit his head around everything that was happening.   
Everything had gone wibbly.  
And then something peeked its head around an imaginary corner in his mind.  
There was someone in Canterlot he might just be able to turn to, not a pony at all, and not someone who knew about the current events that had been established in the past few weeks.  
A jumble of creatures, large and small, scary and nice, crazy and sane all at the same time.  
Discord.  
Drake knew he was desperate if he was thinking of turning to Discord for help.  
He had tried to kill Drake who had been resurrected by philamena, Princess Celestia’s phoenix and the element of magic. He had also imprisoned Twilight sparkle, used her as his personal pet and joke. Manipulated Princess Luna into Nightmare Moon, she had returned the anger against him and had a hoof in sealing his fate.   
But freeing him? Could he really do that? Was it even possible? Well…Discord was only just in a forced deep sleep rather than turned to stone, all he would have to do is override the controls that held him in stasis.  
Maybe…maybe he should just take a walk down there, just have a look, although it wasn’t his job to guard Discord’s chamber, all he would have to do is talk to a guard which was his job to do, close enough to it anyway.  
“There is something you could help me with.” He said aloud to the guard he had just recently been talking to. The default looking guard turned his head round to face him, acknowledging him by trotting up to him, saluting and awaited orders.  
  
“Sir yes sir!”  
  
“Please inform me where Discord’s chamber of slumber is.”  
  
“Yes sir, I can lead the way if that would be of service.”   
  
Drake thought about it quickly and decided it would be best to be shown, but he had to make sure that this guard didn’t follow him into the chamber itself.  
  
“That would be useful, thank you.”  
  
So with the guard leading the way, Drake was led away from the glass dome that held the spiral staircase and across the grass lawn. Storm clouds were gathering overhead, lightning no longer worried him since he knew rainbow dash would keep them away, but rain always made him feel down.  
  
The guard was pretty quiet as they walked; nothing out of the ordinary though, guards never spoke to Drake of anypony higher without being spoken to first.  
  
They passed under a large white archway after walking across the grass lawn where in the summers picnics and fancy parties would be held. This particular archway though had been rebuilt after Discord tore down Canterlot castle and built his own two and a half years ago, it made Drake stop and reminisce for a second.   
  
He remembered just how odd he felt after they had won, after it was all over, he felt…safe, but not because of he was free of danger, he felt safe because he had a family, a family that loved him, he had so many friends that warmed him and welcomed him every time they said hello. It was in this spot, this exact spot that he swore he would keep them safe as he looked over lower grounds that held gazebos, banners for a party for beating Discord, nothing would stop him for being that brick wall that kept danger and his friends apart, and now though…now he felt like he was crumbling.  
  
The arch itself, like him, showed signs of degrading, cracks and moss grew, nothing serious that endanger it but it didn’t look like its best.  
  
Drake rubbed his eyes, he felt the tears welling up because he knew now, he bloody knew that nothing would be the same, nothing could be the same, if they lost, he would certainly die even if he his regeneration would work, hell was coming for him and he didn’t want to know what would happen in this war that his future self kept warning him of.   
  
And if he won?  
  
What cost would he have to take to win?  
  
Take a life?  
  
Lose a life?  
  
Lose everything close to him?  
  
No easy times were ahead and now he would have to face every onslaught that came at him.  
  
He rejoined the guards side and they made their way into the main hall of the castle, the enormous staircase that led off to the different wings almost judged him as he stared at them, like it was telling him to not do this, to turn away and run. He couldn’t run though, he wanted to so desperately, he probably knew as well that waking up Discord was not the right thing to do, but he had no choice, there was no one left.  
  
He had to make a decision now, do it, or fail.  
  
He didn’t like the word fail.  
  
“Which wing?” Drake asked the guard who stood in front of the stair case.  
  
He shook his head.  
  
“No sir, under sir.”   
  
What the hell did he mean?  
  
Under…the stairs?  
  
The guard laid a hoof on the bottom step, banged it three times loudly and sharply, two quick hoof bangs at the end and then another hoof bang.  
  
Like magic, the staircase fell down, the bottom step fell a foot below the ground, the second step fell two feet, the third fell three feet, and so on. It didn’t take long before the stairs had inverted themselves completely and the guard mentioned for Drake to go down himself.  
  
“May I strip sir?” the guard asked with a certain flair in his voice.  
  
Drake was astonished, what…strip???  
  
A vicious flame of dark green swirled around the guard, almost like a creature was tearing and clawing its way out of its skin its ears were ripped off along with shreds of skin hanging off its legs and neck. An enormous black mare grew out of this poor guard, tearing him apart from the inside.  
  
“Ahh, that feels so much better.” She beat her shredded wings quickly like a disgusting bug swarm, her voice even sounded like she had a horde of crickets in her throat. She began to stride across the room like she was inspecting it, or rather showing herself off to Drake, who stood fixed to the spot bewildered. “Don’t you think I look magnificent? Don’t I just look, ravishing?” she exclaimed.  
But when she turned to look at Drake who had a confused face, she didn’t understand why he was.  
  
“What the hell are you doing here?” he stormed towards her in a fit of rage.  
  
“Come now, drop the act, you invited me you dirty little thief.” She winked at him then continued to walk past him by a few feet, she turned over her shoulder to blow a kiss at him, much to Drake’s disgust. “Something you wittered on about yesterday, guh, you were so boring I almost gobbled you up right then.” She chuckled dominantly. “But we could still do that honey.”  
  
“I don’t know what the hell you are playing at, or what angle you are trying to get me with, but I would never ask for you.” He spat at her, anger burned in his voice.  
  
“Well ya did.”  
  
And then it clicked with Drake.  
  
“Wasn’t me.” He chuckled, it may have been his future self but that one of him would have felt different about her, because the present version of him hated her and now he could crush her with it.  
  
“Then who?” she laughed, she had no idea of the current events.  
  
“My future self must have asked you here, I wouldn’t though because…” he walked up to her, standing on his tiptoes so he was eye level with her. “You repel me.” It came out as a rough whisper at her, rather than to her, but the message was clear. He truly hated her. But he guessed that if his future self had asked her to come here it had to have been for a good reason, either that or he was mad, he figured both.  
  
Queen Chrysalis lost her sickening smile almost immediately, her eyes drooped and her wings flopped to her side rather than hang above her.  
  
He didn’t say another word but turned to face the inverted stairs and was halfway down them when he heard her gently sobbing.  
  
He had no sympathy for her, given the chance she would turn him into food for her young without mercy.  
  
But that was her nature.  
  
He remembered watching documentaries on earth about animals and their behaviour, a lion would not spare a zebra just because it felt kind.  
  
He breathed a sigh of something he never though he would feel right now. Empathy.   
  
He looked beyond the inverted stairs and saw a small yellow door with black diagonal lines, unfortunately though he may need her help after all.   
  
Because to the side of it embedded in the wall was a small box that had a hoof print embedded in it, Drake didn’t need to go any closer to know what it was from ten feet away.  
  
A hoof scanner for the door to enter Discords chamber of sleeping.  
Drake rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands and groaned lightly, he knew now that he would need her shape shifting to get through that door!  
  
He turned a full 180 degrees and made his journey back up the stairs, his head held down in annoyance.  
  
“Come back to have another swipe at me did you?” she sobbed through tears, wiping few away with her hoof. “You wouldn’t be the first you know!” she yelled.  
  
“Chrysalis, I want to apologise for what I said.” Drake said sullenly.  
  
She was taken aback by this, but still retained her anger towards him.  
  
“Oh you do, do you?” she fake chuckled.   
  
With a flash of green fire, she became the shape of Drake, a human with black hair and looked exactly like him.  
  
“Oh look at me! I’m shagging the princess of Equestria! But I still want to find a way to complain!” her voice stayed the same as hers while she twirled around him, mocking him while she did. “I’d better ignore every other pony including that gorgeous chrysalis because I’m a jerk!”   
  
“That’s not me at all!” Drake found it odd seeing himself make fun of himself, although he had spent the last week with his future self so it wasn’t odd seeing himself again in the third person.  
  
“BUT THAT’S WHAT OTHERS SEE YOU AS!” Chrysalis screamed at the top of her voice, fire engulfed her again and she was back to looking like a black mare again.  
  
Now this, hurt Drake more than he thought it would have, everything she had said up to that point had washed over him like it was nothing, to him it was, but that…that stung, and he didn’t know why.  
  
Queen Chrysalis breathed heavily and sucked in air through her gritted teeth as she locked her eyes onto Drake, he had his head bowed again, but this time she didn’t know why.  
  
“I will not apologise for what I said, because you repel me.” She whispered to him and turned away to walk outside.  
  
“Wait….i…i…” Drake stammered. “I NEED YOUR HELP!” he ended up screaming it just to get himself to talk.  
  
Chrysalis stopped inches before she was about to grab the door, she licked her lips and let out a small chuckle that erupted into hysterical fits of laughter.  
  
“You need my help???” she flashed around and confronted him again, she could not stop laughing. “You don’t deserve my help!”   
  
“I know I don’t, I can’t make it up to you Chrysalis and I’m sorry, but Equestria needs your help more than ever.” He still couldn’t face looking at her, not because he felt superior to her, but because of what she said about him, what others thought of him. Could it be true?  
  
“If I was to help, which I’m not saying I will, but what help exactly?” she asked, her head tilted to one side.  
  
Drake appeared to be in a trance, but in fact he was still thinking over what she said.  
  
“Hey!” she snapped at him and he looked up at her.  
  
“Sorry, there’s a hoof reader at the door to Discords chamber, I need to get in there.” He explained to her.  
  
She didn’t like the idea of being in there with Discord when she had helped defeat him more than two and a half years ago, but did admit to herself that many things had been going wibbly for a while now.  
  
“That’s all you need me for?” she asked, he nodded slowly. “Fine. But this is on your head.” She walked down the stairs and Drake followed.  
  
“Isn’t everything my fault? That’s a first.” He said in a joyful way. Chrysalis didn’t find it funny at all.  
  
She inspected the hoof reader with a close eye until she exclaimed…  
  
“I don’t know who to transform into.” She growled at Drake.  
  
He too looked closer at it and realised there was hardly anything to go on, shit…  
  
“Hold on a minute.” Drake pulled out his sonic manipulator, the wires hung dangerously low and the battery compartment had residue build up around it, the screen had a few chips around the dull grey plastic case leaving a small part of the screen unprotected from damage, a tiny crack followed the case on the four inch wide screen and this led to every time Drake touched the screen or little pressure was placed up in the screen began to flicker and just trying to press a small green icon was hard enough without worrying about the frayed wires running from the screen to the motherboard that Drake could only hold gently against the back of the screen to stop it dropping off.  
  
“No idea what that is but I’m sure it’s seen better days.” Chrysalis judged it.  
  
“We all have.” He replied in a cold voice, finally he was able to find what he had been looking for on the screen, he pressed a small icon and a blue light began flickering from a small cracked led bulb sandwiched between the motherboard and the screen.  
  
The light was actually scanning the hoof reader and understanding it, a wire mesh image of a pony was being displayed upon the worn down screen, parts of the pony were flickering while others looked like they were being displayed in high definition.  
  
“What in Equestria’s name are you trying to do now?” Chrysalis was losing her patience with Drake now.  
  
“Well it’s doing something, I don’t know what but I’m pretty sure it’s a good thing.” Drake responded.  
  
“How can you not know? It’s your device!” Chrysalis exclaimed.  
  
“Yea but…I dunno…it just…is…I guess…” he was making no sense and chrysalis knew it.  
  
“Let’s just get that door open so we never have to see each other again.” She groaned, she had been expecting the older self of Drake rather than this younger and more, rude to her, self.  
  
“Sounds good to me.” He replied, but it was easier said than done.  
  
The wire mesh pony on his screen began to flicker faster and faster until it turned into a few lines of writing down the side.   
  
It read: Male, Unicorn, Blue eyes, Brown fur.  
  
“Is that enough for you to transform into?” he asked Chrysalis and showed her the information.  
  
“Possibly.” She was leaning in so close to him that when she spoke her insect infested voice sent chills down Drake’s spine, but not a good kind.  
  
She stepped back slowly and with flames beginning to engulf her, her appearance began to change, her crippled horn morphed into a healthy image of a brown horn, her eyes remained the same until she blinked and they instantly turned into light blue.  
  
She shrunk down to the size of a normal stallion with short brown fur and a horn, her wings regressed into her body and her she gave her tail a quick flick as if she was flicking out the last remnants of her.  
  
“Woa!” she exclaimed loudly, now fully transformed into a male unicorn she was easily undetected as Queen Chrysalis. “I will never get over that rush of changing!”  
  
“Have a go at the door then.” Drake let her go towards the door where she placed her hoof on the scanner.  
  
Tensions were high in both of them as a thin light began to flow around her hoof.  
  
What would happen if it failed? Being Discords chamber, it was safe to say that security would be high in this room and guards would surely check if somepony was tampering with the scanner. Would they arrest Drake and Chrysalis? Would she even let herself get arrested or would she fight?  
  
Beep-Beep!  
  
The door slid open and Drake let out a long breath.  
  
“You forgot to breathe as well?” Chrysalis didn’t change her voice but thankfully there were no other guards in sight when the door opened.  
  
“Just a bit.” He replied and they both stepped through the doorway and into the chamber of sleep.  
  
The chamber of sleep was a large and circular white room that housed a massive square glass box in the middle with more than plenty of room to walk around it without touching the wall or the glass, in front of the box as they just walked in was a large console filled with buttons, levers, switches and toggles along with screens that showed pie graphs, bar charts, line charts and plenty of data that would make even Twilight dizzy.  
The glass box was filled with thick white smoke that gently seeped in through thin pipes that led from the roof into the glass box.  
  
Something eerie was hiding in the smoke though, Drake couldn’t make it out but there a shadow within it. It just looked like a long ball but he knew exactly who it was.  
  
“Tell me again why we are here.” Chrysalis walked in front of him and he saw that she had reverted to her normal shape.  
  
“You can’t look like that!” he snapped at her, someone could see her.  
  
“Relax, it’s not like we won’t get arrested for releasing Discord anyway so we’re too far down the rabbit hole.” She chuckled and focused her attention to the glass box full of smoke.  
  
“I’m releasing Discord.” It had not been as obvious to him before as it was to him now just what actions he was taking.  
  
Chrysalis spun around and challenged him.  
  
“You can’t release him! Don’t you remember what he did last time he was free?” she bellowed.  
  
“I remember clear enough, but things are so messed up that if I did release him, what else could go worse?” he studied the console in front of him now and wondered how to cut off the smoke.  
  
“We only just defeated him before! What makes you think we would get a second chance at that?” she quickly spoke, like she was running out of breath to say it.  
  
“There are two of me and we can’t die…” and then he remembered what his fiancé Princess Celestia had done to his future self. Well, being that he could always regenerate with the full force of the element of magic in him, he felt his chances were better than last time.  
  
“Well I will not be staying around to get killed by him.” She added.  
  
“You are more than welcome to leave.” He replied to her very quickly.  
  
Chrysalis stared at him for a few seconds before making her stance on what to do.  
  
“You’re useless without my assistance.” She said and stood by his side.  
  
“Thank you.” He quietly said to her. “We just need to figure out a way to turn off that sleep smoke stuff.”   
  
Drake was pressing a few buttons gently and slowly while still inspecting the screen on the console to notice any changes.  
  
“I know an easy way.” Chrysalis said, her voice was the only sound in the room apart from the noice of the smoke being pumped into Discord’s glass box.  
  
“What would that be then?” he asked.  
  
Queen Chrysalis conjured up a powerful spell in her horn that made her shudder and her body began to glow green with energy. She twirled her horn in the air and then fired a bolt of green lightning at the console!  
  
KA-BLAM!  
  
Drake was sent flying back across the room with the full force of the explosion and landed against the floor with an almighty thud as his arm snapped upon impact, he screamed out in pain and held his arm tightly.  
  
He was left with first degree burns to his chest and up his neck, lacerations from the flying pieces of metal of the console across his cheek and side. Where he had landed on his arm had pulled against the fabric on the shoulder leaving it ripped and half hanging.  
  
He looked up from the ground and saw that the smoke from the vents had stopped flowing and the remaining smoke was quickly fading away, every second that passed he was able to see Discord sleeping more clearly.  
  
But he was not sleeping any more.  
  
“You’re on your own.” Chrysalis beckoned to him and with a flash of dark green light, she had teleported away.  
  
“COWARD!” Drake screamed at the top of his lungs.  
  
Discord began to stir, his legs stretched out and his talon claw scratched against the glass floor, leaving noticeable marks against it.  
  
His yawn to Drake sounded more like a vicious growl but that was only because of their past predicaments.  
  
Drake staggered to his feet and feared the worst from Discord.  
  
“AAAHHHH!” Discord let out a loud roar and then…. “That was some odd dream.” He said to himself, he was not facing Drake while he spoke to himself. “Where the hell am I?” he asked himself, looking around.  
  
And that’s when Discord decided to face the same way Drake was standing, his heart jumped into his throat as Discord began to approach him.  
  
“It wasn’t a dream was it?” Discord asked in a very calm and collected voice.  
  
Drake shook his head slowly.  
  
Discord placed his hands on his hips and licked his lips.  
  
“So then, how the hell are you still alive?” he asked.  
  
“I won’t tell you that.” Drake quickly replied. “You caused pain for my friends, you hurt them and even killed some of the ponies I knew, I can no way forgive you for those crimes…”   
  
“Well I wouldn’t.” Discord interrupted, he looked at Drake holding his arm. “What happened to you?” he pointed at Drake’s arm.  
  
“Broke it.” He replied and then quickly got back to the subject at hand. “Like I was saying, I can’t forgive you, but I need your help.”   
  
Discord stared in disbelief at Drake, and then gave a very heavy shudder.  
  
“I know that would be a shock to you…”   
  
“It’s not that, it’s like…something…” Discord seemed like he was not in this world, like he was trying to listen to something deep in space, every time Drake would try and say something Discord would make him be quiet.  
  
“What…are you doing?” Drake growled at him.  
  
“Dimensional activity outside!” Discord yelled loudly and flew quickly up the stairs and outside, Drake sprinted after him and was out of breath by the time he had reached Discord who was standing outside, night time had fallen and Discord was staring up to the sky. “Come on, come on…” he kept whispering to himself.  
  
“What are you looking for?” Drake cried.  
  
“THAT!” he shouted and pointed to the sky.  
  
Drake looked up to where he was pointing and could make out two different comets flying away from each other.  
  
“Shooting stars, so what?” Drake exclaimed.  
  
“No they are not! Something has just jumped dimensions and that’s them!” he shouted and began to flick his vision between both of them. “PICK ONE TO GO AFTER!” he shouted at Drake.  
  
“That one!” Drake shouted and ran out of the grounds of the castle after the comet.   
  
“You dimension jumped before, what do you think it is?” Discord was flying beside him and startled Drake.  
  
“I never….” He started, “You brought me to this world, this is all you!” he shouted.  
  
“This was never me!” Discord sounded like he was insulted. “I never cared for your species.”   
  
“You know humans?” Drake was annoyed that Discord knew, or was he trying to annoy him?  
  
“We don’t have time to talk and stand still.” Discord retorted and flew after the comet they had been following.  
  
“Hey! Don’t think I’m letting you out of my sight!” drake shouted after him and began to tail him closly.  
  
“Never thought you would.” He replied.  
“You’re still a criminal!”   
  
“But right now I’m the only creature you can turn to.” He laughed out loud but Drake did no such thing.  
  
“How did you know that?” he called after him, they were now following a small trail outside of Canterlot castle and into a large forest, luckily no ponies took this route at night because it was very dark so this meant that Discord was not being seen by others and didn’t start a riot.  
  
“You’ve just told me!” he shouted back.  
  
BOOOOM!  
  
Something heavy hit the ground in the forest and Discord stopped dead.  
  
“What ever this thing is, it’s just hit land.” He chuckled and flew even faster.  
  
“Some things have been going on and I knew that if I wanted to find out what is causing it, I’d better find the creature that deals with chaos best!”  
  
“I feel so treasured!” Discord called out behind him with fake sympathy. “STOP!” he cried out, Drake ran into the back of him and they fell onto the floor. “Watch where you are going!” Discord snapped.  
  
“You stopped suddenly!” Drake retorted.  
  
“Look!” Discord picked Drake up and showed him a large crated in the middle of the forest, some trees had been knocked over and uprooted from whatever had hit down.  
  
“What is it?” Drake whispered.  
  
“No idea.” Discord whispered back. “I guess this is the kind of chaos you were talking about.”  
  
“Yea.” Drake replied quietly, he slowly approached the edge of the crater and feared what was inside it.  
  
“It’s you?” Discord was astonished to say the absolute least.  
  
Drake’s future self was lying on his back, his clothes burned slightly but he was still alive.  
  
“Yea, that’s me.” Drake replied.  
  
“But, how?”   
  
“Tell you that later, check if he is ok.” Drake said to Discord who slowly flew down into the middle of the crater, Drake on the other hand began to slip gradually down the side until he too was by his future selfs side. “Drake?” he felt asking himself but tried to shake him gently till he woke up.  
  
“Tell me now.” Discord growled heavily across from Drakes future self, he acted almost like a barrier between them.  
  
“My future self time travelled back to this point in time, he came bearing words of war, something was inevitable and everyone would die because of it.” Drake explained, his future self stirred beneath him.  
  
“I’d like to see who ever is going to do this try and kill me.” Discord chuckled.  
  
“He said everyone! He meant you as well!” Drake snapped.  
  
Discord was left speechless as Drake tried to wake his future self up.  
  
“Come on, wake up!” he shouted at his future self.  
  
Future Drake’s eyes opened slowly and he looked around, he didn’t say anything but he looked very happy to see Drake.  
  
“Hey, welcome back you handsome twat.” He joked with his future self.  
  
“I am beautiful, not handsome!”   
  
This was weird, because that was not Drake’s voice that came from his lips, it was Princess Celestia’s.  
  
Drake dropped his smile instantly.  
  
Celestia looked upon Discord with absolute horror.  
  
“What the hell is he doing here?” she screamed.  
  
“Oh shit!” Both Drake and Discord said in unison.


	16. Freaky Friday

“This is messed up beyond my own standards!” Discord groaned loudly, he was sitting away in the clear patch of forestry from Drake and Princess Celestia who had somehow been transplanted into future Drake’s body.  
  
“Well I’m not an expert either so don’t start complaining before me!” Drake moaned louder than Discord did, he and Princess Celestia sat on a moss covered log away from Discord, Drake had his arms crossed while Princess Celestia seemed to be adjusting her clothing tightly wrapped around her new body. “Will you please stop that?” Drake snapped at her in a hushed voice.  
  
“You and your tight clothing is the problem here.” She snapped back, she stood up and yanked her jeans down to relieve some discomfort on a certain area.  
  
“I’ll remember that in how ever long.” He replied sarcastically.  
  
The three of them sat in silence for a few seconds before Drake could hear Princess Celestia shuffling from side to side, the rocking motion shook the log they sat on annoying Drake even more.  
  
“What…are you doing now?” he roughly asked.  
  
“Well there is something down in my new crotch that is completely different to me…” She started and glanced down at her jean crotch, Drake didn’t bother telling her off but when she looked over at his…  
  
“ENOUGH!” he snapped loudly at her and she broke her contact with him. “Discord are you bloody positive you had nothing to do with this?” he called over to him, Discord had sat down on the floor not even bothering to clear the wet leaves let alone summon up a chair to sit on.  
  
“I said!” he shouted back. “Nothing!”  
  
“Urgh…” Drake groaned and put his head in his hands.  
  
A few more seconds of silence floated around the three of them, not because they were thinking but just because no one wanted to say anything.  
  
“Just imagine how it is for my future self to be in a female body.” Drake gave a small joke in the awkward silence.  
  
“I bet he’s not complaining.” She chuckled and sat up straight, so did Drake because he was taking a guess at what Princess Celestia had just done.  
  
“You’d never talk like that.” He said quickly and quietly, Princess Celestia looked up as if she was trying to look at her new brain.  
  
“No…but…you would……oooh!” she laughed loudly which caught Discord attention.  
  
“She had better be giggling at ghosties!” he called back to them in a grumpy tone.  
  
“I’m thinking like you!” Princess Celestia stood up and pointed at Drake, still laughing like a maniac, she could hardly stand with howls of laughter.  
  
“Stop it!” He stood up and shouted.  
  
“You are dirty minded!” She continued to laugh hysterically and shifted through Drake’s mind.  
  
“I’m 17!” Drake yelled in his defence.  
  
“Oh…” Princess Celestia suddenly stopped laughing as if she had never started, this unnerved Drake quite a bit since she had access to his memories, even ones that had not happened to him yet.  
  
“What? What is it?” Drake cried out.  
  
“You were…” she coughed in an attempt to hide something in her tone.  
  
“He was what?” Discord joined in but without turning around.  
  
“Suicidal.” She gently put it.  
  
Shit!  
  
Drake looked away out of shame, he crossed his arms and didn’t answer her.  
  
“Discord! Let’s go!” he walked over to him and tapped one of his shoulders.  
  
“Why me?” he asked.  
  
“Please?” he whispered, Discord looked surprised at him.  
  
“Oh, fine, only because you asked so nicely.” Discord sounded like he had a sweet tone but Drake didn't trust him one bit.  
  
He stood up from the ground and turned Drake around by grabbing his shoulders and spinning him.  
  
“What’s on your mind?” Discord whispered into Drake’s ear.  
  
“Celestia can you walk in front of us please.” Drake asked her, she sighed and almost tripped over her new feet but gained her balance quickly by stretching out her arms and listing from side to side until she remained stable.  
  
Drake and Discord hung back to make sure there was a few metres between them and the wobbly Princess Celestia in her new body.  
  
"Right then, you know i don't trust you at all..."  
  
"Wouldn't be surprised." Discord was filing his claw with a lump of mud he picked up off the floor, Drake never understood how physics bent around Discord how it did, but that's why he was called Discord.  
  
"You pushed my friends until they snapped, some were more resilient and others were weaker, but this is what i have to say on the matter." Drake was looking up to Discord and he was much shorter than he was. "They were my friends and they still are..."  
  
Discord sighed heavily and over dramaticly.  
  
"My future self was able to discover time travel and that leads me to believe that sooner or later i will find out how to travel between worlds, and my world is not one you want to piss off."   
  
"Get to the point." Discord said in a jokeful tone, he was not taking this seriously.  
  
Drake swipped at Discord's legs with his own which made Discord land in the thick mud with a splat, Drake immediatly grabbed onto Discords throat with his hand very tightly, making him choke and clasp at his own throat.  
  
"From now on, you are under HUMAN observation!" Drake knew he didn't want to go down this path, it was not a threat but more of a warning towards Discord. "That's my point."   
  
"I almost killed you before..." Discord choked.  
  
"And now there's two of me." Drake knew Discord would think twice before trying anything but he still feared another attack last two and a half years ago. "Got that?"   
  
"Got it..." Discord quickly went comically blue and Drake let go of him, "You're mad." Discord got to his feet and pulled a small pink mirror out from behind his back and began inspecting his throat.  
  
"You would fear others of my kind." Drake added quietly.  
  
"Are you two messing around with each other back there?" Princess Celestia called back to them both, Drake ran his fingers through his black matted hair with a sigh.  
  
"Oh, I know i won’t hear the end of these innuendos." he said to himself. "Coming!" he shouted back to her.  
  
"You didn't say no! I'm shipping it!" she chuckled lightly to herself.   
  
"Do you even know what shipping is?" Drake asked her when he caught up to her, he still found it weird that his fiancé was in his future body.  
  
"Slowly understanding it, if it's in your head, it's in mine." she was looking over her arms and inspecting the tiny hairs that lay along them, she worked her way up to her fingers looking at every tiny bit of them like they were precious diamonds. "Wow, imagine what you could do with these..." she trailed off in thought.  
  
"I hope that's not sexual." Drake tutted.  
  
"Wasn't, but now you said it." she laughed again.  
  
"Please stop." he asked her.  
  
"But it's fun." she teased him, but then she saw the look of worry on his face.  
  
"As my fiancé, as my best friend, please don't." he pleaded with her.  
  
"Ok, i'm sorry." she said to him, "I'm your best friend?" she changed the subject quickly.  
  
"Of course you are." he replied, Princess Celestia inadvertently blushed.  
  
"Thank you."   
  
"Ugh, yuk, so soppy!" Discord pushed himself between the two of them and put his arm around one of the Drake's. "Why am i tagging along again?"  
  
"Wrong Drake." Princess Celestia growled, he very quickly let go of her like she was a vicious animal, and wrapped his other arm around the other Drake.  
  
"Tell me why." he asked.  
  
"You're coming with us because you are going to apologise to my friends and everyone you hurt." Drake grabbed Discords arm that was wrapped around him and shoved it off him.  
  
"That would take ages!" Discord moaned.  
  
"Then you'd better start as soon as we reach ponyville." Drake snapped at him.  
  
"Oh you are a big meanie." Discord play shoved him.  
  
"Don't...touch me!" Drake growled viciously at him.  
  
"Alright...." Discord kept his arms to himself for the rest of the walk. "Long walk back then."  
  
"From Canterlot, it would be." Princess Celestia added.  
  
"Want to play a game?" Discord asked happily.  
  
"NO!" Both Celestia and Drake snapped at him together.  
  
"Fine, you're both so dull anyway." Discord moaned again.  
  
The three of them were not taking the main route from Canterlot towards Ponyville because of Discord and a second Drake would raise too many questions, mainly it was because of Discord though. So they were walking through the paths in the forest that were thinned out, no pony would walk through them at this time of night so it was safer than the main roads.  
  
"What is your world like?" Discord blurted it out without fully thinking it through, it was legitimately something he had been thinking of since he knew of Drake's presence in Equestria.  
  
"Excuse me?" Drake stopped in his tracks, looking at Discord with unease.  
  
"C'mon, you rarely spoke about it around me while we tried to kill each other." Discord crossed his arms and sat on a flat rock on the floor, showing no sign of moving without listening.  
  
"I don't want to agree, but i sort of want to know as well." Princess Celestia quietly added.  
  
"You're inside my head, why don't you look through it?" Drake felt frustrated with Celestia, he didn’t want to talk about his world and she wanted to hear about it.  
  
"One, you said i can't do that anymore, and two, i want to hear you talk about it." she too crossed her new arms but it took three attempts at it.  
  
Drake sighed loudly and placed his hands on his hips.  
  
"What do you want to know then?" he asked, frustrated and hoping they didn't ask anything too much.  
  
"Start from the beginning." They both asked at the same time. Drake sighed loudly.  
  
"That is going to take a bloody long time." Drake grunted.  
  
"Then you'd better start." Discord chuckled as he knew he took Drake's words and teased him.  
  
Drake took a while to piece together his words in his mind about what to say regarding earth.  
  
“My people can be both amazing, full of life and wonder, exploring the far reaches of their world while still helping others around them.” He thought about the amazon rainforest to start with, then he quickly thought about how it was quickly being chopped down. “And they can be vicious, cruel, murderous and cold. There is always war in my world going on somewhere.” He blinked slowly and thought about something else. “We created missiles to attack and defend ourselves…”  
  
“From who?” Princess Celestia asked quietly.  
  
“From each other,” He looked down quickly and found a small stick on the ground, he grabbed it and began to sketch out the earth in a large circle, making sure to show the countries.   
  
“You see, my world is split up into hundreds of countries and within those hundreds of countries there are thousands of towns, and within those thousands of towns make up nearly seven billion people, all of who have amazing potential.”   
  
“So why the missiles?” Discord asked.  
  
“Because that’s just how my world is, for some reason we can’t have peace.”   
  
“Is that why you don’t want to go back?” Celestia asked.  
  
Drake glanced at her quickly.  
  
“There are other reasons.” He said.  
  
“Eugh.” Discord groaned loudly. “Soppy!”  
  
“Give it a rest Discord.” Drake snapped.  
  
He sighed heavily.  
  
“Please can we get on the way to ponyville now please?” Drake gently asked, he didn’t want to be in the forest any longer than he had to.  
  
Celestia sighed and stood up from the floor.  
  
“Come on then.” She replied.  
  
“Fine.” Discord added and the three of them began to walk together again, once again though they didn’t walk side by side.  
  
Along the way each of them fell back or moved forward so they were walking with each other differently, Celestia liked walking with Drake because he was her fiancé and since being imprisoned on her own in a prison world, she really missed him.  
  
Drake walked by Discords side twice during the few miles only because he felt awkward walking with his body from the future. Discord knew perfectly well that Drake hated him but didn’t want to point out that he liked walking alone.  
  
The only time that Discord and Celestia walked side by side was when they overtook each other, princess Celestia had almost been killed by Discord but had suffered painful wounds from their battle and although Drake had been the one to sort of die twice because of Discord both the guys knew that it was Celestia who had a burning hatred towards discord that made Drake’s vengeance look like a spark next to a forest fire.  
  
Because being human, Drake felt enormous anger but Celestia had lived longer, lost her sister to banishment as well as becoming the jealous nightmare moon, she had also battled Discord before over a thousand years ago so when she hated him; she really hated him!  
  
Just as Celestia’s legs began to ache, she spotted a small village over the hill they began to climb over.  
  
Ponyville.  
  
Suddenly Discord clicked his fingers and became a smaller version of himself, perched on Drake’s shoulder.  
  
The sun had begun to rise over them and it was clear that Discord was uncomfortable.  
  
“Scared?” Drake asked slyly.  
  
“Not me, no.” he replied back in a slightly fake tone.  
  
“Sure.” Drake chuckled, he was glad that Discord was wary of what was to happen next as they passed under the arches of Ponyville, before them sat the town hall in the middle of the town square, the rest of the town split off down different roads and pathways towards many different sections of the town.  
  
“What now?” Celestia asked, standing beside Drake, the three of them both knew that it wouldn’t be long before ponies begun their daily routines around the town.  
  
Drake began to wonder what the plan was, it was then in the corner of her eye she saw a blur of rainbow colours fly past her. Rainbow Dash!  
  
He quickly grabbed Discord off his shoulder and stuffed him into his trouser pocket.  
  
“Hey!...MMPH!” Discord tried to argue with Drake and his method about hiding him, but after a second he gave in.  
  
“Rainbow!” he called out to her, she spun around in mid-air and with a large grin on her face she swooped in towards him but as soon as she saw him standing beside his future self she immediately grew concerned.  
  
“Er, nice to see you both…Drake…but, wasn’t there some kind of conflict between you both?” she asked.  
  
“Sort of, we kind of, made up.” He didn’t truly want to explain all the details about it.  
  
“Er…alright then…what did you want then…” Rainbow Dash pluched a lose hair from her tail and let it float to the ground.  
  
“We need to get to Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Celestia spoke in a proud voice.  
  
“What the hay?!” Rainbow Dash seemed to jump in mid-air which was impossible but Drake threw away the laws of physics a few weeks after arriving in Equestria.  
  
“Told you this would go down swimmingly.” Rainbow Dash heard Discords voice from within Drakes pocket and freaked out in mid-air.  
  
“Drake, what the hell is going on?!” she seethed through gritted teeth.  
  
“Look, Rainbow Dash, I need your help and it’s a long story.” Drake walked closer to her, she couldn’t take her eyes off his pocket where she feared the creature that almost had his “soldiers” violate her was lurking, waiting to bring another three weeks of hell without hesitation upon the world.  
  
“Give me a dam good reason why I shouldn’t leave you right here!” Rainbow Dash was angry and yet confused at the same time.  
  
“Because the Princess Celestia you believe you know is a faux.” Celestia stepped forward and spoke to Rainbow Dash.  
  
Upon hearing the pleasant and musical tones that were Princess Celestia’s voice such as a hard of angels would sing of, Rainbow Dash immediately became aware of the situation that unfolded before in a mere sentence. She dropped to the ground and gave a very deep bow.  
  
“Princess Celestia, it is an honour.” Rainbow Dash greeted her.  
  
“Thanks for that.” Drake sighed loudly.  
  
“Drake, I need to ask though…” Rainbow Dash straightened up and focused back onto him. “Do you…have Discord in your pocket?” he saw that her tail drooped slightly when she spoke of him.  
  
“I’m not Discord.” Discords voice came from Drake’s pocket with a high pitched tone in his joke full voice. “I’m his talking crotch!”  
  
Drake slapped his pocket in annoyance and looked over to Princess Celestia to apologise for his attitude but found her stifling laughter and trying to keep a straight face.  
  
“You truly find that funny?” Drake was annoyed at her.  
  
“You do, therefore I do.” She continued to hide her grin and stifle her laughter.  
  
“Hey, it’sa me! Your crotch!” Discord said again with the same high pitched tone, Princess Celestia began to silently laugh hysterically. “And it smells so bad in-a here!”   
  
It was the weird Italian accent that Discord put on that broke Celestia into howling laughter and had to lean on a nearby building to keep herself from falling over.  
  
“Stop it now! Both of you!” Drake snapped, Princess Celestia slowly began to stop laughing and Discord kept silent.  
  
“Rainbow Dash, I need you to help Equestria and escort the princess to Twilight Sparkles home where Twilight will be waiting as well as Princess Luna. Make sure no one stops you or distracts you.” Drake informed her.  
  
“Yes sir!” Rainbow Dash saluted him, with Drake being Shining Armour’s second in command he knew how to escort high profile ‘packages’ to locations, but since he was not doing it himself he had to tell her how to do it.  
  
“Wait, where are you going?” Princess Celestia grabbed Drake’s arm just before he ran off.  
  
“If everything my future self has been saying is true, me and him will need new clothing.” He replied and released himself from his fiancé’s grasp. “I will see you back at the library later!” he called back to the two of them and made his way off towards Rarity’s boutique.  
  
The motion of Drake’s running was beginning to make Discord nauseas in his pocket.  
  
“If…you….don’t…stop…running…you’ll…need…to…buy…new…trousers…” Drake heard Discord moan from his pocket, he quickly tucked between two other buildings in a very tight alleyway, he grabbed Discord tightly and pulled him out of his pocket.  
  
“Listen here you messed up dragon…” Drake gripped him tightly in one hand and pointed at him rudely with the other.  
  
“Draconequus.” Discord corrected him with a smirk.  
  
“Whatever, after what you did to me and my friends, you’d better be happy I don’t step on you by accident.” Drake air quoted with his free hand.  
  
“I apologised for that.” He sighed and rested on his arm.  
  
“You don’t apologise to me, you apologise to my friends and hope they forgive you.” He stuffed him back into his pocket, still pissed at Discord for so many obvious reasons, one of them just being his cocky attitude. “First pony you apologise to will be Rarity.”   
  
“Ugh, why do I need to? Are there not more pressing matters to deal with?” he heard Discord moan again from his pocket, Drake decided on walking now instead of running not due to Discord being happier but because he didn’t want the creature of chaos vomiting in his pocket which, for all he knew, cause make him lose a leg or something worse.  
  
“Because she is my friend and I want her to know that you are sorry.” He replied, ponies must have thought he was mad as he approached Rarity’s home and store since he was talking to his trousers, or to them he was talking out loud to himself.  
  
Reaching the front door of Miss Rarity’s boutique, Drake wiped his feet on the front mat so that she didn’t shout at him like she had done before and opened the door to walk in.  
  
“I don’t want to.” Discord muttered from deep within Drake’s pocket.  
  
“Rarity?” Drake called out in the middle of her shop, it wasn’t even a second before he heard rapid hoof steps from upstairs and then galloping downstairs until he saw the white unicorn in front of him.  
  
“Drake, is something wrong?” she asked worryingly, he had to admit that the last few times he had been to see Rarity was to inform her of bad news or to request clothing.  
  
“No, I just came because someone has something to say.” He bit his lip and suddenly remembered what had happened again in the space of the three weeks that Discord was reigning over Equestria.  
  
Reaching into his pocket he quickly felt Discord and pulled him from his pocket.  
  
Rarity gasped at the sight of him, Discord huffed loudly and gave a little wave.  
  
“Hi.” Discord said sarcastically.  
  
Rarity stood speechless at the sight of him, not moving nor talking, just standing with her mouth hanging agape which was very unlady like of her.  
  
“Rarity?” Drake spoke in the silence, still holding Discord in his hand.  
  
“I think we broke her…” Discord whispered to Drake.  
  
“Why…you brought….did you forget…” Rarity stuttered.  
  
“We broke her.” Discord muttered.  
  
“Are you working with him?” Rarity kept her sudden flare of anger under control at the sight of Discord.  
  
“Apparently I’m under his watchful eye.” Discord chuckled but with a tight squeeze from Drake was all that was needed to remind him.  
  
“It’s not betrayal Rarity, but Princess Celestia…” he stopped himself to think it through, “I needed someone who understood chaos and what the next step was.”   
  
“Why the hell didn’t you come to me?” Rarity looked down at the floor.  
  
“What?” Drake asked.  
  
“I WOULD HAVE LISTENED!” Rarity immediately shouted back in anger. Drake was taken aback by her sudden rush of bellowing, Discord too. Drake swallowed and with a heavy heart he placed Discord down on a nearby table, he quickly flashed into a white light and became his full size again.  
  
“Don’t go anywhere.” Drake growled beneath his breath. Discord sighed quietly, crossed his arms and sat on a chair on the other side of the room. Rarity’s breathing became erratic and she tried to steady it. “Why would you listen to me?”  
  
“Because you’re my friend, we may not see each other a lot nor have a lot in common.” Rarity said, “But you are still my friend and i….” she remembered the first time she saw him, Twilight Sparkle was taking him to see Princess Celestia and they were traveling by train to Canterlot from Ponyville, Rarity was also traveling by train as well to reveal her new line of clothing to Canterlot. She was mystified by Drake but got on well with him, she never liked focusing on the past because as a fashion designer it was bad to not keep moving forward; but she enjoyed the past how it was.   
  
“I really like you.” She uttered.  
  
Both of them stood silent for a while, neither wanted to say anything for the time being but to just to let it all sink in. A few minutes crawled by before either of them could gather their thoughts.  
  
“Your future self said a war was coming.” Rarity’s voice cracked.  
  
“Said that to me as well.” He replied.  
  
“Then you need some fighting clothes?” she looked up at him with a gleam in her eyes.  
  
“You want to?” he asked surprised.   
  
“It will take a day or so to get together but it will be battle worthy.” She said and walked over to a white desk with golden leafs etched across the top and down the legs. “But on one condition.”  
  
“Anything.” He replied.  
  
“Come visit me when this whole mess is over.”   
  
“I promise.”


	17. A Glimpse into the War

CCCRRKKK!!!!  
  
Heavy barn doors swung open with a sickening groan, the red that had been that welcomed all visitors to its merry farm was now smeared in blood, acid rain and radiation from the rips in space that bled through gamma rays from supernovas used as weapons harnessed by The Legion.  
  
Thunder boomed overhead while the human that had opened the barn doors limped in, grunting with every second and his teeth gritted so tight he feared he’d break a tooth.  
  
“ARGG!” with a final cry he fell to his knees and hit the dirt ground face first, arms sprawled out in front of him, every time he sucked in air to fill his torn lungs dust would coat his teeth and the inside of his lips.  
  
Minutes ticked by while the pain in his leg very slowly faded, lifting himself off the ground was painful enough but flipping himself over onto his back and twisting his bitten leg was excruciating!  
  
“For fucks sake!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, the pain flared in his leg like a forest fire and he knew that sight already. Breathing heavily, he looked up and saw the desecrated moon above him in the night sky, his eyes fluttered shut out of exhaustion and he began to feel faint. The barn began to spin around him and he dragged himself up against the wall of the back wall.  
  
He couldn’t keep his eyes open though no matter how hard he tried, raising his right hand to his face he could feel the large cut near his eye from where The Legion fought him aboard the Titan airship so blowing it up was the least of his regrets but he still felt awful inside, not because he murdered hundreds of creatures with families but because he used up a regeneration that erupted like Chernobyl.  
  
“Glad to see you’re still alive.”   
  
Sitting still with his eyes shut for a second, he instantly knew the owner of the female voice that came from in front of him.  
  
“No thanks to you or your army…of…hell beasts that served under you.” Opening his eyes he looked upon a dark navy blue Alicorn, her short mane hung disturbingly still in the windless breeze. The torn desert brown saddle bags that hung by her sides reflected how the war had pushed everypony to their limits and beyond, a royal pony sister; dressed like a civilian.  
  
“That may have been…a misjudgement.” She muttered out of the corner of her mouth.  
  
“They lasted a day, Fluttershy with a toothpick would have been better.” The human said with sorrow.  
  
“How is she anyhow?” The Alicorn quickly took a few steps into the abandoned barn as what sounded like thunder rolled overhead, fear swallowed the Alicorn’s heart for she knew what would follow shortly afterwards. Because both of them knew that what somepony could mistake for thunder, was far from it.  
  
“I had to ascertain her body by her teeth.”   
  
Both Alicorn and Human stood and sat respectively in regret.   
  
“I… had no idea…”  
  
“Last thing I said to her was to hide in her house, the shadowmares wouldn’t find her in there…” he rubbed his eyes out of exhaustion, “And that’s where they found her.” He was used to death but Fluttershy was not somepony who deserved it. Hell, nopony deserved this war that couldn’t be stopped now and just had to let it take its course but Fluttershy didn’t have a chance against anything that ventured fourth from what was basically the void, devoid of life and consciousness but somehow gave birth to some of the most vicious and terrifying creatures he had ever seen, be it in person or from horror movies back on Earth.  
  
He heard the navy blue Alicorn slouched down beside him, she tossed her saddle bags in front of both of them, undid both of the rusted buckles on one of the blood splattered pouches and removed two glass bottles filled with black liquid inside them; she levitated one of the bottles to the human beside her.  
  
“Coke?” he asked as he took the tepid bottle from the dark blue aura that suspended it in mid-air.  
  
“Just thought you could use a little home comfort.” She weakly smiled and unscrewed the top off her bottle.  
  
“Hmph, well my world invaded Equestria so I’m not extremely fond of my own people at this current time.” He too unscrewed the bottle cap off his bottle of coke and began to drink it slowly, it may have been mildly warm but it was nice to close his eyes and for just a second, pretend he was home, on earth, with his best friend, drinking coke together.  
  
“Dying again?” he heard his friend say, just thinking of the terrible state his right leg was in, sent pain shooting up his body.  
  
“We’ve been through this Luna, I can’t regenerate anymore.” He winced.  
  
“Can’t, or wont?” She rhetorically asked.  
  
“Doesn’t matter, I refuse.” The fake thunder roared overhead again and Luna looked up as if to see something in the roof of the barn.   
  
“Even with the latest news?” she asked, still looking upwards  
  
“If the Shadowmares want to weaponise me then they can come and find me, I’ve got a score to settle with them about my friend.” He held his glass bottle in both hands, the dark liquid in it sloshed around as half full.  
  
Luna looked at her Human friend with concern.  
  
“That’s not the news I’m talking about.” She retorted.  
  
“Well I haven’t seen you for two days.” He placed the glass bottle down and tried to stand up by shifting his body up the wall, wincing every time he did. “How should I know what you do or don’t know?”  
  
“You should regenerate.” Luna whispered very quietly.  
  
“What?” he chocked, almost collapsing but caught his hand on one of the snapped pillars holding up the second floor.  
  
“Nothing.” She quickly looked up to see her friend leaning with his teeth gritted.  
  
“Just a broken leg.” He seethed. “What news did you hear anyway?”   
  
Luna licked her lips and stood up, levitating her coke bottle to the floor and now stood before her best friend, her fellow soldier, her lover.  
  
“What…news?” he repeated himself.  
  
Everything grew eerily quiet all of a sudden, the silent wind blew through Luna’s short mane and her friend’s stubble.  
  
“All the creatures that are now, those that have crossed over in this world to get at this universe, and your plan, to let nature take its course which you believe will end in a month from now…” she took a step towards him. “More will arrive shortly, that’s not thunder we keep hearing, because it’s the other universes using tremendous force, breaking into this one.”   
  
“So…you’re saying…” her friend was worried, he may not die because of regenerating but the pain was all too real.  
  
“What I’m saying is this is the tip of the iceberg, there are far more creatures coming, more humans, more Shadowmares, more Legion, more death.”   
  
Her friends breathing became more erratic.  
  
“So what the HELL…do we do Luna?!” he shouted, the thunder boomed overhead, this time it sounded so close that it was unnatural.  
  
“How should I know?” she beckoned, “The plans up to now have gone fine, so we step it up a bit we could….”  
  
“WE WILL DIE!” he screamed at her, “We can do nothing now!”  
  
“Then what do we do next?” Luna calmly asked, but she knew too that all efforts now were futile.   
  
Something crossed her mind and she knew that it crossed her Human friends mind too, and he knew too that they thought the same thing.  
  
“No.” he said gently, “We can’t run.”   
  
“We can, you said it yourself that we’ll die here, if not dying, then…the Servants of the Black Hole will capture us, we barely escaped last time who knows what they’ll try next?” she walked closer to her friend, he remembered that though.  
  
The Servants of the Black hole caught Luna and her regenerating friend when they were injured fighting Cerberus, imprisoned them both and set up a worm hole adjacent to a black hole far from their world to trap them forever since they could never die. Mad, absolutely mad, that’s all they were Luna had said countless times before. They only escaped when her human friend tricked one of the guards into attacking him; and with his body knowing death was close a regeneration was underway, exploding in the Citadel they were being held captive it was enough to shatter the shackles around Luna and they flew off into the night together.  
  
“And where the hell do we run Luna?” tears stung at his eyes when he looked at her, Equestria had been his home for nearly three years, he had fought valiantly but he knew his efforts were in vain. His friends were dead, his fiancé had abandoned him in the first few days of the war and now he had just discovered that everything he had fought against was now coming back in MUCH greater numbers, all fuelled to kill him and Luna.  
  
“Anywhere…” she gasped, she was much, much older than her human friend was and the thought of being forced to run away was almost too much. “Earth?” she suggested.  
  
He glanced at her and then quickly looked away.  
  
“You aren’t exactly inconspicuous.” He rubbed at his eyes, tried to put weight on his foot and yelped from the pain.  
  
“If we can somehow get to the crystal empire we can go through the portal to Earth and it will make me Human, blend right in.” but she saw the state his leg was in, bitten and torn.  
  
“Bollocks Luna, I’m not going anywhere in this state.” Her friend groaned, he could feel the cola running through his dehydrated body.  
  
“I know, and I’m sorry about this.” She shut her teary eyes and took three hoof steps backwards.  
  
Suddenly and without warning her Human friend doubled over as his stomach clenched up, his kidneys failed one after the other, pain slashed at his insides and like Déjà vu he knew the pain like an old memory; well…because it was an old memory. The pain was the same, the dizzy spell, he would have collapsed had he not been stronger now and also clutching onto the wooden support beam of the barn.  
  
Cyanide poisoning!  
  
“Did you…” he gasped clutching at his throat, it was like his body was being squeezed as tight as possible and then some more, his eyes were bulging out of his head and being in the state he was already in he knew that a regeneration was unavoidable.  
  
“I am so sorry, but this is full on war, we can’t have a wounded man on the team if we want to survive.” Luna felt awful at what she was seeing, her best friend now dying because of her intended actions.  
  
She stood back and watched helplessly at her friend, what looked like rainbow steam billowing off his skin and face, his clothes untouched by the steam but his hair ruffled in the effects.   
  
Suddenly his entire body exploded in a bright white light that blinded Luna, the whole barn shook with the force of the regeneration, the cracked windows shook and fell out of their frames, the second floor ones fell to the ground around Luna who had to dodge the razor sharp blades as they rained down upon her.   
  
The floor boards above them wobbled vigorously until the nails popped out of them causing them to fall down and smacked into the side of Luna who was tossed to one side of the barn, she was winded and was gasping for breath as she could watch the dirt floor around her friend get turned to burned ash from the intense chemical reactions in the air around him. The immediate area around him was deadly but from where she was; she was safe.  
  
The roof of the barn though was blasted to pieces and the remaining wood fell down upon the blinding white light emitting from the Human but as instead of falling onto him; they burned up into cinders or split in two as the light reached them. Flames encircled him and it quickly became too much for Luna to even glance at, her eyes burned and the searing heat jabbed and bit at her face, legs and body. The temperature of the barn escalated to beyond tolerable and Luna was quickly fleeing to the back wall of the barn out of fear, even now though she could almost feel her skin burning.  
  
PPHHAASSHH!  
  
With a sudden bellow of energy that blinded Luna temporarily, she dropped to the floor and held her eyes with her forelegs, still terrified of what would come next.  
  
A few seconds of nothing, no talking, no movement just…nothing…  
  
She scarcely opened her eyes, in front of her stood the Human with steam still lingering on his skin and the flaming wreckage of the barn still smouldering around his feet. He held his hands in front of him and looked like he was almost inspecting them, looking at his arms and patting down his chest, legs and then quickly glancing at his feet.  
  
The plain black shirt he wore and black jeans were torn from previous battles but nothing from his sudden regeneration.  
  
He focused his attention upon Luna who was crouching at the back of the barn, she looked more terrified than usual, even from some of the horrors she and her friend had witnessed together or separately.  
  
“Are you angry at me?” she nervously asked.  
  
“It’s not the full extent of Human wrath but yes, I am angry.” He put his hands down and walked over to her, clearly Luna was wary about getting up but did so out of plain fear of annoying her friend.  
  
“I am so sorry, but it had to be done and you know it.” Luna was still a few metres apart from him while she spoke.  
  
“I don’t want to admit it but…yea…it did…” he gave in to the knowledge that he was in a very bad way before, but it was true that he did not want to regenerate anymore.  
  
Luna believed that it was because some species including the Human race wanted to use his regenerating ability to heal their forces or use the explosive effects as weapons in the war. But yes it was part of the reason he didn’t want to regenerate because of that, but he had a better reason, he watched his friends brutally murdered before him, scream his name as they were pulled limb from limb by rabid creatures feasting upon them; it was a certain rainbow mane Pegasus pony that taught him to show no mercy with the opposing forces.  
The honest truth was that he didn’t want to live anymore, he was tired of seeing bloodshed and the emotional pain as he had to watch his best friends tortured by having chemicals pumped into their bloodstreams, their eyes locked with his and he couldn’t help them because he would have been captured.   
  
Him and Luna wanted the same thing though, to be able to spend their time like before; parties, cake, meaningless flight across Canterlot just because the stars were pretty that night, puling pranks on Princess Celestia which ended in laughter by all sides.  
  
A cold flood of emptiness floated through him, this was all too much, this was hell and he couldn’t take it.  
  
He just wanted everything to go back the way it was before!  
  
…  
  
Hold on…  
  
The synapsis in his brain began to spark an idea, if there was more creatures coming and he was too exhausted to fight and too immortal to die, then maybe instead of pushing forwards, they go backwards!  
  
“Luna, Twilight sparkle found a while ago a spell in the Canterlot archives about time travel, do you know them?” he asked her, stepping forward.  
  
“One.” She quietly replied.  
  
And he felt it then, a small flicker of an emotion that danced across him and left through a glimmer in his eyes.   
  
Hope!  
  
“Send me back in time and I can stop all this.” He said to her, instantly she shook her head.  
  
“Even if it was possible to send you far back enough the reactions expelling from both of you on one timeline could rip apart the fabric of time as well as space.” Luna looked at the floor as she said it.  
  
“But there is nothing else here! No hope, no nothing!” her friend loudly exclaimed and pointed to the open barn doors. “The rest of the fucking universe will tear us apart and then go for time and space, we can’t stop them here so the only way is to go back and end it before it starts!”   
  
“That kind of energy would rip holes across time leading up to it, we can’t risk that.” Luna walked away from her friend while he tried to reason with her.  
  
“Risk what? We have nothing left! We don’t even have a place to sleep tonight in safety let alone a plan to fight back!” he shouted at her, he didn’t like talking to her like this but it was true that they had no hope without something as drastic as this.  
  
Luna stood silent for a while, her friend couldn’t see her face since she was turned away from him and facing outwards into the oncoming storm.  
  
“I don’t know how far back it would send you, for all I know it could send you to when you first came to Equestria, or when the war started.” She sighed.  
  
“We need to take the shot, without it everyone’s deaths will mean nothing.”  
  
Luna sighed lightly.  
  
“Alright.” She finally agreed, she knew too that this timeline was done for, the wrong decisions had been made and the past needed changing. “But you’ll only get one shot at this, lose it and it could spell worse times.”   
  
“There can’t be anything worse Luna.” He replied and walked closer to her, her rolled up his black sleeves and began to input commands into a device on his wrist, it was brown leather with a LCD screen neatly fitted into it with buttons underneath it.  
  
“You improved that in time!” Luna forced a chuckle.  
  
“Needed it.” He smirked, he input the date and a countdown slowly began.  
  
GGRRAAWWW!  
  
A growl came from outside and the duo instantly glanced upwards, they knew what it was.  
  
Thickly coated in light absorbing black fur and drenched in blood, walking on four legs, red creepy eyes that always seemed to watch you no matter where you stood. It looked like a jaguar but with rows of long teeth that could tear apart a sewer drain lid, Luna’s human friend had witnessed that the hard way by trying to run from one and diving down a drain thinking it could lift it up.  
  
“Oh shit, why now?” Luna cursed quietly.  
  
“Must have left its hunting group for whatever reason.”   
  
“Kill it.” Luna’s horn began to spark viciously.  
  
“Easier said than done.” He replied and very slowly pulled a small metal object from the back of his trousers, one of the Human soldiers had dropped it when the group was attacked, picking one up was easy enough and with three rounds of ammunition, a Glock handgun was pretty useful in situations such as this.  
  
He knew why Luna was terrified of this creature though, lore said it was the only thing capable of killing an Alicorn.  
  
Before either of them could react in any way though, with a burst of lightning fast speed it launched itself upon Luna pinning her to the floor and sending her friend flying through the air, his gun was tossed into some hay in the corner.  
  
Luna was screaming as it bit into her throat and tore at her stomach with razor sharp claws that made easy work of her skin.  
  
Her friend couldn’t find his gun in time and with a flurry of panic he tried to rush the creature killing his best friend but the weight of it was impossible to shift.  
  
Luna was quickly losing all of her blood and had a few seconds left to live, her eyes flickered shut but she could still hear the creature growling on top of her and her Human friend trying to kill the thing.   
  
She couldn’t feel any more pain though, her whole body had gone numb and she quickly felt like she was floating.  
  
The Human meanwhile positioned himself between the black creature and Luna, pushing with all his might to get it off her.  
  
But then with a sudden relapse his body shone immensely bright like the middle of a supernova would and the creature was vaporised instantly.  
  
“LUNA!” he screamed, turning around and grabbing her limp body in his arms.  
  
She was able to open her eyes long enough to say goodbye.  
  
“You can’t die! I won’t last a day without you!” he cried.  
  
“I…love…you….” She gurgled, blood frothed in her throat as she whispered.  
  
“Don’t die then!” he shouted.  
  
“Do me… a favour…” she asked slowly.  
  
“Anything!” he pulled her closer to him so she wasn’t laying on the dirt floor but was now on his lap.  
  
“Tell my sister….I’m sorry…” her horn lit up weakly and in less time than he could process it, the Human found himself laying in an alleyway in Ponyville, sun shone overhead and he could hear the bustle of the market.  
  
He got to his feet and found that all the blood and dirt from his clothes had vanished, he now had a plan, but he was alone.  
  
“No second chances.” He cracked his knuckles and walked out of the alley and wondered what time period he was in. “For Luna.” He thought to himself, the memory was just a few seconds ago for him and that was what he would use for motivation.  
  
“DRAKE!” he heard a filly shout his name and he quickly saw Sweetie Bell running up to him.


	18. Twilight's Abuser

Drake was running through Ponyville, ecstatic to hear the gravel beneath his feet once more, it had its own certain sound to it due to it being constantly recovered from the large mass of ponies in Ponyville galloping over it every day. And with the town being situated low in the hills the gravel was being gathered from rich soil which made the gravel sound unique from everywhere else in Equestria.  
  
He had heard it plenty of times before, but he had always felt rushed to be with his friends and spend forced time with them since now with immortality resting on his shoulders every day; mortal lives felt like a drop in the vast ocean. He wondered if Shining Armour felt the same way when he saw his wife, Drake never once asked him about how he felt and neither did Shining Armour talk to him about one day he’d have to stand at his best friends graves while he stood above the ground still alive and healthy like it had been mere minutes to him. But both Drake and Shining knew perfectly well that the subject was on each other’s mind when they saw one another, it was just the look on their faces that for one brief second, depression overwhelmed them.  
  
Drake shook it from his mind and kept running towards his goal, Twilight Sparkles library. That was were Princess Celestia (in his future body) along with Princess Luna and Twilight were, he could only guess how shocked Twilight would be when she would find out he released Discord from his slumber.  
  
Discord treated Twilight Sparkle the worst personally those two and a half years ago while he reigned over Equestria, he used a collar and a leash to treat her like a dog: yanking her every few feet, walking her through the town to show off to everyone his pet, when Twilight was more prepared to confide in Drake she told him about he would force feed her dog food just to break her emotionally.   
  
Why shouldn’t he just step on Discord right now and finish him? It would be easy, flatten him like a bug in the dirt.  
  
Drake rounded the corner of a sofa store and saw the massive tree that was Twilight Sparkles library, her home. He stood still for a second thinking he was out of breath, no pony was around so they didn’t try and bother him.   
  
He just watched the leaves blow in the calm breeze, the birds chirping on the branches and the flowers in the ground beautifully planted on the edge of her home since Twilight took effort in planting those in the spring. The day he visited her she asked him about flowers on Earth and advice on them just before she bought a book dedicated to daisy’s, he told her they just needed sunlight and water and room to grow. A smile twitched on his lips just remembering that day, it was pleasant enough, nothing exciting but he didn’t want exciting now. Drake had thought he was bored with daily life but now he knew since there was no way with his future self here now, ponies disappearing daily and a fake Celestia in Canterlot that he could have a calm day with his friends again, it would be like smashing a glass pane then expecting it to fit perfectly in a window frame.  
  
A few minutes had passed since he had stopped nearby Twilights house just to observe it, he was no longer out of breath but he didn’t want to go in just yet. Why?  
  
He felt a claw on his shoulder and quickly turned around to see Discord standing in front of him in full size.  
  
“What are you doing?” Drake quickly asked, pulling his trouser pocket open to indicate Discord to shrink back down and get back into hiding.  
  
“I was going to ask you the same.” Discord had clearly noticed that Drake had stood still for a while, Drake bit his bottom lip.  
  
“It’s just…how can I face any of that without…”  
  
“Without breaking?” Discord finished his sentence for him.  
  
“If that’s the right word for it.” Drake crossed him arms and glanced over his shoulder at Twilights house.  
  
“How do you feel about Twilight?” Discord asked, Drake looked at him with a confused expression. Discord was certainly not the one to talk to about his feelings, his own attitude gave a don’t care notion to himself so why was he asking Drake about his feelings towards Miss Sparkle?  
  
“I…care about her, she’s my friend…”  
  
“If Princess Celestia didn’t hear any of this?” Discord asked the same question but in a different light.  
  
“What do you mean?” Drake kept glancing back at Twilights house, expecting her to be at a window and see Discord.  
  
“For half a minute, you’re not with Princess Celestia. How do you feel about Twilight Sparkle? Not as a friend this time though.”  
  
Drake took a second to think, how did he really feel about her?  
  
The purple unicorn, the mare who greeted him with open forelegs on his first day in Equestria, she gave him a bed and watched over him when he was wounded in battle, he had let it slip how he felt about her before while he was under morphine due to a vicious attack taking vengeance for an assault on his friend Fluttershy and was he was consequently critically injured due to a psycho pony tearing out one of his ribs, but Twilight had tossed that aside and Drake thought he had too since he had been heavily medicated and he had not been thinking straight. For three months she was more than his best friend, a different dimension she would probably have said. She made him breakfast every day and he did the same for her, he had even been invited to visit Canterlot Castle and meet the royal pony sisters with Twilight Sparkle as his guest, and when they had got home…it was like…he didn’t want to be with anyone else… he didn’t want humans… he didn’t want ponies… he didn’t want friendship or magic…  
  
“I love her.” Drake ushered quietly.  
  
“Then you go in there and tell her.” Discord said just as quietly and pointed towards Twilights home.  
  
“Why are you doing this?” Drake quickly and loudly asked.  
  
“Cause I think we don’t spent quality time together.” Discord retorted.  
  
“Because last time you wanted to kill me and you nearly did!” Drake snapped.  
  
“Details, details.” Discord waved his claw in the air. “Look, I don’t want to go in there anymore than you do, Twilight is being guarded by Princess Celestia and while she is in a foreign body you’re future self may have Alicorn magic, he won’t see me the way you do and he WILL kill me.” Discord argued.  
  
“Hold on!” Drake stopped him talking instantly, “You’re not just scared…” he took a quick look at Discord’s stance and quickly knew. “You’re terrified!” Drake lashed out at him, he hated Discord and was not worried about how Discord saw him. He caused him unbearable emotional agony, tortured him friends and even murdered a few of them and what Discord said was true, if the future self of him knew that Discord was walking around he would most certainly hunt him down without hesitation and no pony knew what kind of horrendous things the future held for Drake but if what he was saying was not an exaggeration about this upcoming war then he could be far more volatile than anypony could predict.  
  
“You’re going in there.” Drake seethed through his gritted teeth, he was not going to let Discord worm his way out of this.  
  
“Do I have to?” Discord comically whined.  
  
“Yes you dam well do!” Drake quickly snapped and pointed at him.  
  
“Don’t point those weird things at me.” Discord slapped his hand away, he groaned loudly and looked at Twilights house, he knew he would have to face her at some point and with Drake being his personal enforcer as it were; it would be sooner rather than later.  
  
“Get in there.” Drake once again pointed at Twilights house. “Walk behind me but try anything and you won’t be going far.” He threatened Discord, and with a huff and a puff discord trudged behind him.  
  
“Nothing I can say then to tempt you otherwise?” Discord schemed and wrung his hands together.  
  
“Like I said before, try anything.” He growled at Discord.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Drake placed his hand upon the door handle and bravely pushed it open, staring into the well lit home and instantly regretting it.  
  
Inside he saw Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia in his future body. All of them were fixated upon watching the ceiling of the library, as soon as he stepped in though Princess Luna was the first to quickly turn around and notice Discord standing behind Drake.  
  
“DISCORD!” she screamed and took up a fighting stance.  
  
“Long story.” Princess Celestia crossed her arms, messed up doing so and redid it.  
  
“You knew this?” Luna bellowed, Twilight Sparkle too now had seen Discord but didn’t shout or even say anything; she just stood wide eyed and never took her eyes off him like he was a massive timberwolf.  
  
“AS IF WE DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH TO WORRY ABOUT!” Drake could now hear himself shouting in the room, but he couldn’t see his future self who must have been placed in Princess Celestia’s Alicorn body and vice versa.  
  
“What’s going on?” Drake looked around quickly, scanning the house to spot a massive horse with wings but as odd as it was to try and find it he couldn’t.  
  
“Your future self arrived moments after we did.” Princess Celestia still didn’t look at her fiancé or Discord but continued to cross her arms and stare at the ceiling.   
  
“Then where is he?” Drake asked, still looking around the room.  
  
“Stuck on the ceiling!” he heard his own voice bellow from the roof and when he looked up he easily saw Princess Celestia’s Alicorn body floating against the roof, hooves sprawled out trying to grab onto anything but to no succession.  
  
“What happened?” Discord stepped forward but Princess Luna blocked his path to her immediately.  
  
“Back off.” She viciously growled, Discord didn’t see Luna as a threat but glanced at Drake who, since nopony was paying attention to him, held up a hand to signal for him to stop moving, Discord grew irritated that a god had to obey a faux immortals commands. Discord nodded to Drake and then took a step backwards, Twilight Sparkle was still in shock about his sudden appearance and had not broken the line of sight with him.  
  
“Celestia’s body carries levitation magic with it along with other spells and I can’t find the off switch!” Drake’s future self shouted back to him, it certainly looked like his body had an aura around it but it could have been mistaken for sunlight.  
  
“Just try and relax.” Princess Celestia spoke calmly and tried to reassure him but it was not helping.  
  
“How the hell do I do that? I’m not used to using this kind of magic!” he shouted back.  
  
“Are you used to any kind of magic?” Discord picked some dirt from his claws and kept one eye fixed on Luna who refused to budge an inch.  
  
“Regeneration.” Drake said quietly to Discord.  
  
“I thought that was a dream.” Discord chuckled. “That’s real then?”  
  
“Mess around and you’ll find out.” Luna growled.  
  
“Ooh, Luna got claws.” Discord laughed out loud at Princess Luna’s attempt to act tough and even patted her on the head.  
  
“You’ve got no clue you bastard.” Discord heard Drake’s voice come from the ceiling.  
  
“Sticks and stones….” Discord retorted.  
  
“JUST GET ME DOWN!” Drake screamed at the group, and as if he was nothing more than a wad of papers Princess Luna used her magic to grip him from the ceiling and slam him into the floor.  
  
“Are you ok?” Princess Celestia knelt down by her body.  
  
“Uuuugghhh…..” Drake whined in pain. “I want my body back….”   
  
“You and me both.” Princess Celestia replied in a huff.  
  
“Well now everyone is here, how do we do that?” The Drake in his own body asked and bit his bottom lip.  
  
“How did this even happen?” Discord asked to the two beings in each other’s bodies  
  
“Same frequency regeneration.” Both of them replied at once, giving a look to each other that they had not done in a very long time; a look of ‘this is why we are engaged.’  
  
“And say that again so we all understand.” Discord felt sheepish, he was in the same room as geniuses and even though he was smart he was not as smart as the royal pony sisters were.  
  
“Our regenerations were the same energy, far too similar and it mixed up our souls into each others body thinking it had done it right.” Drake in Princess Celestia’s body shakily got to his feet.  
  
“Because of Philomena…” Drake in his human body muttered as he usually muttered when he was thinking.  
  
“Merged with my DNA and linked to Princess Celestia.” Drake in Princess Celestia’s body muttered as well.  
  
The two Drakes shot glances at each other, the human Drake gave a look like he was intrigued to see how he acted without looking in a mirror, meanwhile the Drake in Princess Celestia’s Alicorn body gave a mere hateful expression to himself.   
  
“So just regenerate again and it will all be fixed.” Discord tried to step forward but once again Princess Luna stepped quickly to the side and blocked his path. “Somepony tell little miss Nightmare Pants that she had a hoof in the events that got me imprisoned as well.” Discord said loudly.  
  
“Luna! Stand aside!” Drake in Princess Celestia’s body shouted at her, she immediately stepped aside and let Discord pass  
  
“What made her your dog?” Discord joked and stood opposite Drakes body that harboured Princess Celestia.  
  
Drake in his human body glanced at Twilight Sparkle, he had been monitoring her behaviour or lack of since Discord walked through the door. She was petrified of him, he was a trigger that sent her into a clear panic attack but wouldn’t show. Understandable since she had been through torture under his claw and seeing him after she had believed with her heart for nearly three years that she was safe now but to find out that Drake had released him, he didn’t know if she would trust him ever again.  
  
‘You ok?’ he mouthed to her, she closed her mouth and mouthed back ‘No’.  
  
“Luna, get Twilight some air.” Drake took a long stride towards Princess Luna and whispered to her, all she had to do was look at Twilight Sparkle and she agreed. She led Twilight out of the library and walked outside with her, leaving both Drakes alone with Discord and Princess Celestia.  
  
“Is this a trap then or something?” Discord chuckled.  
  
“This is no joke Discord.” Princess Celestia retaliated, “The regeneration that put us in this predicament split apart the world we were trapped in, if we tried to duplicate it who could tell what would happen?” she rhetorically asked.  
  
“So this is why you woke me up.” Discord turned to Drake in a low voice. “Find someone who could follow the pattern of chaos and predict what would happen next.” Discord crossed his arms in anger, he felt like he was being used rather than as a friend.  
  
“Be glad I don’t kill you afterwards.” Drake replied.  
  
“Oh you got mean.” Discord stuck out his forked tongue at him.  
  
“You ruined everyone’s lives in Equestria!” Princess Celestia snapped at him.  
  
“I think he knows that, he just doesn’t care.” Drake in Princess Celestia’s body added.  
  
“I do care.” Discord felt hurt, he magically pulled out a long string of clown tissues and wiped his eyes but wasn’t actually crying, he just liked pushing Princess Celestia’s buttons.  
  
“Then help us, what happened between us I can come to terms with if the results save my friends.” Human Drake went in another direction than the other two were.  
  
“I’d like to help but…” Discord started.  
  
“But what?” Both Princess Celestia and the Drake in her body growled through their gritted teeth.  
  
“But I feel hurt, if you apologise I might consider it.” He smirked and floated on top of a bookcase and put his claw to his chin, clearly waiting for a response.  
  
Neither of the two wanted to apologise, he was scum them, but human Drake didn’t understand why his future self acted like this, he was him just a few weeks younger but for some reason his future self wouldn’t swallow his pride to save his friends, he even knew what was coming which should have motivated him more to do anything, so why didn’t he?  
  
“I’m…sorry Discord.” Princess Celestia groaned, Drake shook his head.  
  
“I won’t, you’re scum to me, i tell you now that if I fail in saving my friends…” he struggled to walk towards Discord in his hooves, “I will burn you.” He growled.  
  
“I beat you once before.” Discord put his face closer to Drake. “I can do it efficiently this time.”  
  
“Guess what Discord?” Drake whispered.  
  
“What?” he whispered back.  
  
Drake whispered something to Discord that Princess Celestia and human Drake couldn’t hear but it made Discord stand back a few steps, shocked easily by the look on his face and his stance, his arms flopped down by his side and his jaw hung loose.  
  
“Understood.” He may have said it quietly but everyone could hear it.  
  
“What did he say?” Princess Celestia asked loudly, neither of them said anything so she turned to her fiancé, “What would you have said to him?”  
  
“I don’t know!” he quickly and sharply replied.  
  
Discord looked at all three of them individually, he thought about the situation they were in and the circumstances surrounding it.  
  
“First of all we need everypony and human at their highest possible function, so we need to get you two back into your bodies.” He pointed at Drake and Princess Celestia, Drake sighed happily.  
  
“I don’t like walking around naked.” He breathed out.  
  
“You didn’t mind at home.” Princess Celestia quietly said.  
  
“Stop it.” He chuckled for the first time he had with her for ages, he couldn’t say right now because he didn’t like her, but…she was a nice pony and friendly for that matter, he knew he had been massively wrong about his issues with Princess Celestia before he travelled in time, he hadn’t shared those reasons with the ACTUAL Princess Celestia as he was trying to keep his past in the past but it was still troubling him.  
  
“How do we do that then?” Drake in his human body asked Discord.  
  
“That I just don’t know how, physically it’s impossible but I guess that’s why I’m here…” Discord tried to think to himself when the door to the library opened.  
  
“Greetings again everypony, I was hoping I could be of some assistance.” Princess Luna wanted to help, Twilight walked in shortly behind her.  
  
“And I want to help too.” Twilight Sparkle chipped in, whatever Luna had done outside put her mind at rest and now she wanted to fight alongside the party.  
  
“Twilight, do you know any spells on body switching?” Drake in Princess Celestia’s body asked her.  
  
“Well, what did you do in your past? Our present?” She inquired.  
  
“Well it didn’t happen in my timeline so this is all new to me.” He replied, thinking that THIS timeline had changed gave him a flicker of hope that the events in his past, their future, could possibly be avoided.   
  
“Ok, so does anyone know any way this mess can be undone?” Princess Celestia asked loudly, she was looking at Discord directly due to his solo understanding of chaos and being able to predict the outcome of a situation that anypony else could not.  
  
“No clue.” Discord crossed his arms and sat on the staircase leading up to the second level of Twilight Sparkles bedroom, he felt useless and even partially to prove himself to redeem himself.  
  
“Well… we could try something extreme if we had no other options…” Princess Luna spoke to everyone who then turned to look at her.  
  
“What do you mean dear sister?” Princess Celestia asked her younger sister.  
  
“I can walk among ponies in dreams so I could possibly link my sister and Drake together through their dreams and swap their souls over without any harm.” She revealed her plan, Discord didn’t believe it would work but both Drakes had a very small feeling it could.   
  
“But…that kind of magic is old…very VERY old!” Twilight Sparkle said aloud, she levitated a book towards her which was bound in dark purple stained leather and had a picture of a thought bubble on it. “Star Swirl the Bearded begun research into dreams but never finished his notes.” She read through the last few pages of the thick four hundred page book.  
  
“The reason he never completed his studies was because he refuted my assistance and delved into an unstable dream he conjured up.” Princess Luna looked out of the window and saw the sun setting, it proved her thoughts that the creature impersonating her sister in Canterlot could manipulate the sun and moon to keep up appearances, but it also proved that it had power they would have to face very soon.  
  
“Dream imprisonment?” Twilight asked Luna who nodded in reply.  
  
“His body withered and his mind died with him still inside.”   
  
“Then how do you know me and your sister will be safe?” Drake asked her.  
  
“Because I am far more powerful and have more to lose than he did.” She nodded to her sister as a gesture.  
  
“Then do it.” The Drake in his human body said, “Like Discord said, we need everyone at their best.”   
  
“Glad you took my advice.” Discord smiled sickly.  
  
“I took your words, NOT your advice.” Drake snapped.  
  
“This kind of magic would be highly dangerous though, are you sure you can handle it?” Princess Celestia asked.  
  
“You know I can.” Drake replied.  
  
“I was asking Luna.” Celestia said back to him, this shocked her sister.   
  
“Sister, what could be dangerous? I’m not switching bodies…”  
  
“No, but if what Drake fears his memories will be you must be on your guard.” She said, they all understand instantly. Drake had been through hell and back in this war and with those three weeks still burned in his memories it would be like Luna walking through a live rattlesnake enclosure.   
  
“I can’t promise I can shut out everything but I will try my hardest when we do this to make sure nothing goes wrong.” Drake told Luna.  
  
“Thank you, just try and imagine closing a door if I get too close to dangerous memories or anything else you don’t want me to see.” She smiled to him and he softly smiled back.  
  
“I will do my best.” Drake replied and suddenly lost his footing and fell onto side. “Balls!”  
  
“You may use the beds upstairs to set up, Princess Luna.” Twilight Sparkle said to Luna who thanked her and floated up to the second level.  
  
“This may take a while.” She apologised and was quickly out of sight to begin her magically preparations on the beds for her sister and Drake.  
  
Drake got back on his hooves and sat on his flank to wait for Luna to finish, Princess Celestia sat on the floor beside him while Drake in his own body was asked by Twilight Sparkle to accompany her into the kitchen.  
  
“Do you think this will work? You know Luna more than I do.” Drake whispered to Princess Celestia.  
  
“I believe it may, but I did want to ask you about that; you know things about my sister in what may arise in the future. May I inquire to what she is like?” Princess Celestia asked.  
  
“I can’t say.” He looked down at his hooves, he just couldn’t bear to tell her what she becomes.  
  
“Nothing too deep just… is she good?”   
  
Drake looked up at her and smiled weakly.  
  
“She is amazing.” He replied.  
  
“Then why can’t you tell me about my own sister?” she grew slightly irritated but simmered down as quickly as it began. Drake frowned and thought to himself.  
  
“Because… because she was by my side when you should have been.”   
  
Princess Celestia was taken aback by his choice of words, she would never leave her fiancé without good cause.  
  
“The Celestia you knew was an imposter, I won’t leave my fiancé.” She glanced towards the kitchen door and thought about Drake. “I love you.”   
  
“I know, but I can’t.” He sadly admitted, tears welled up in Celestia eyes.  
  
“But…it’s still me…”   
  
“I know that but… things happened and I can’t go back to how I was, I’ve been through too much to snap back into my old habits.” He told her. “You’ve still got a life with him, live it.” He just couldn’t tell her what truly happened in that war.  
  
“I won’t let anything happen.” She promised.  
  
Meanwhile, in the kitchen. Drake was standing with Twilight Sparkle.  
  
“Do you think it will work?” he asked her.  
  
“Why are you asking me?” Twilight looked down in sadness.  
  
“Cause you’re a genius and I want to hear your thoughts on it.” He replied, upon noticing her expression though he changed the subject. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“Nothing.” She quickly retorted.  
  
“Twilight.” Drake said quietly.   
  
She looked up and had tears in her eyes.  
  
“You tossed my present for you aside!” she angrily shouted. “I poured my heart into that and you ignored it!” her eyes stung with tears and she could feel her legs shaking with rage.  
  
“There’s nothing I can say to that, I was wrong and I hurt you.” He said. “You were the pony who loved me most and I should appreciate you more.” He apologised to her.  
  
Twilight looked away from him. She frowned and brushed her eyes.  
  
“It might work but…I doubt it…” she couldn’t focus on him at the moment so she focused on…him…but future him… so still him…  
  
“It’s not the same between us is Twilight?” he asked her.  
  
“Hardly see each other.” She replied in a short tone.  
  
“I miss you most.” He said, she looked at him and chuckled half-heartedly.  
  
“Do you remember the nights we used to stay up and play chess?” she continued to chuckle while Drake looked up and remembered them.  
  
“That was so long ago but yea, I still remember them, I lost a rib and I still beat you in chess.” He began to chuckle too.  
  
“Because I let you win.”  
  
“No way did you, I know you wouldn’t.”  
  
“And the time Pinkie pie threw you a welcome party!” she pointed at him and kept chuckling. “You showed Trixie not to dance next to you!”  
  
“I loved that party, and meeting everypony for the first time was amazing!” he couldn’t help but smile to himself, he could see Twilight was also smiling.  
  
“Hey, do you still remember going to dinner with Princess Celestia and Luna?” Drake asked her.  
  
“Oh yea I do, you have no idea how much that meant to me, Princess Celestia was my mentor and to have dinner with her and her sister in private was a privilege.” She replied.   
  
“Meant a lot to me as well.” He told her, she looked at him and there was a spark.  
  
“You’re with the Princess, we shouldn’t discuss this.” Twilight Sparkle quickly closed the subject.  
  
“I never thanked you properly for healing me, when I was injured.” Drake put a free hand to his ribs and felt the miss matched rib pattern in his chest, a previous fight between him and one of Discords goons had caused him to tear a rib out of his chest and would probably have died if it had not been for Twilight and Princess Celestia reacting to save their friends life. “I cant make it up to you in the way I should but…” he looked at the kitchen door and thought about the human and Alicorn sitting outside.  
  
“The Drake in that room is not with Celestia and he after all this he will need a good friend to remind him of friendship.” He hinted to her. “Save my life one more time, please.”   
  
“Of course I will.” She smiled and Drake smiled back.  
  
It was at this moment in time that Discord popped his head around the kitchen door as if they were talking about him.  
  
“Moon butt says the spell is ready.”


	19. Delving into Dreams

Inside the library in Ponyville, Princess Luna had placed the two beds that Twilight Sparkle owned into the main chamber, the bedding stripped off so it was bare; symbols and hieroglyphics burned and etched into the wood work of each bed made them appear to be where demons would slumber rather than a guest bed of a unicorn.  
  
Everyone except Princess Luna stood around the two beds and admired her work, meanwhile Luna stood between the middle of the headrests of each bed, in her mind she had thought very hard and delicately about each incarnation and spell she bound to each bed frame but yet she still pondered if they would work to how she wished they would play out.  
  
Princess Celestia in her fiancés body stood at the side of the bed on her sisters left while Drake in Celestia’s Alicorn body stood parallel to her on the other side on Luna’s right. Twilight Sparkle stood beside the other Drake that she had recently been talking to; they were both positioned at the end of the two beds with Twilight standing on Luna’s right and Drake on her left. Discord meanwhile stood aback from the group of friends merely watching them; he was leaning against a bookcase and trying to act casual by running his fingers down the spines of the books but was truly biding his time till Princess Luna acted her spell so he could see if it would work. But not because he curious about the effects of her spell but because he was more interested in if he could glance into Drake’s memories and see his own fate in this ‘Universal War’.  
  
“Please, both of you lay down on your respective beds and we can get started.” Luna said to both Drake and her sister.   
  
“How will this work, before I allow you to do this.” Drake asked her, he assumed he wanted to be in his own body as much as Celestia did but was also concerned about the symbols that Luna was using because they appeared to trigger something in his memories. Something from the war reminded him of those markings but then again over the course of three hellish weeks thousands of species collided together in a battle over something that he never found out about, maybe one of those species had been using them and stuck around in his subconscious?  
  
“Being the Princess of the night, it is my duty to ensure dreams are kept separated from one another. So all I have to do is put you two to sleep and then lower the barriers between your dreams and then swap your consciousness over.” She gracefully smiled to herself.   
  
“Easy enough.” Princess Celestia said simply, she had lived longer than both Drakes so she could assume what her sister was doing, but none of her magic would match up to Luna’s in the means that she could monitor dreams. She herself was pretty powerful but she needed a certain flare of magic that only Princess Luna could muster up in order to reverse the changes that happened between her and regrettably her EX fiancé.  
  
“How long will it take?” Discord asked, hiding his impatient attitude, he was using his claw to gently scratch at the bookcase he was leaning against. The words that Drake had whispered to him burned in his mind, he couldn’t let go and refused to believe them to be true.  
  
“A few hours, it will be dark before we three wake.” She replied.  
  
“Hold on, you’re going in too?” The still human Drake asked her, he didn’t trust Discord and with both Alicorns out of action along with his future self it would just be him and Twilight Sparkle against the god of Chaos. His friends still had their elements of Harmony except from the element of magic which was of course still fused with his body, mixed with the starting ignition of Princess Celestia’s dead phoenix which allowed him to heal his body with the use of regeneration.  
  
“I have to, in order to ensure maximum penetration into both dream states.” Princess Luna said, she may have been very serious but Princess Celestia giggled to herself. “Something funny sister?”   
  
“Penetration…” Celestia chuckled louder than before, Drake in her body chuckled as well while Luna looked on in confusion. “It’s a human thing.” She said in shame.  
  
“Wait a minute…human?” Princess Luna worried.  
  
“Half human that is.” She added and uncrossed her arms. “Drake’s memories are part of me so my humour is messed up.”   
  
“And yet all I think about is cupcakes and dam tea parties.” Drake in Celestia’s body groaned.  
  
“Hey what you think is funny is annoying!” Celestia retorted.   
  
“You knew what you were getting into when you married me.” Drake chuckled happily and then realised what he said, instantly regretting letting that slip.  
  
“So I do get married?” the Drake standing beside Twilight asked, he looked at his fiancé and she looked happy too.  
  
“Yes, yea you do but don’t party, you won’t have an hour to yourself.” Drake was mentally kicking himself for letting slip those words.  
  
“The wedding is in two days! You can’t possibly tell me that this war starts so soon!” Discord got up from leaning and walked towards the group.  
  
“Then help us!” he shouted at Discord, he was still furious he was alive let alone not giving one hundred percent of his efforts to halt this war, then again… no one was, he brought proof of just surviving that war was around the corner yet nothing severe had been done yet to halt this crisis.  
  
“I am trying! This is the first step, next we empty Canterlot Castle of the imposter then we can focus on step three!” Discord walked up close to Drake.  
  
“You are going nowhere NEAR Canterlot, as far as I’m concerned as soon as we take back Canterlot I’m using the power of friendship to seal you in stone once more!” Drake growled.  
  
“What if he redeems himself and halts this dam war? What if he does help?” Drake’s past self argued. “Are you saying we should ignore his potential?”   
  
“What I’m saying is…” Drake in his Alicorn body took a step to the side to confront his former self but he was not accustomed to his forelegs and tripped over each other leaving him to collapse into a heap on the library floor. “Dam it!”  
  
Twilight giggled to herself and raised a hoof to hide it.  
  
“I’m with Drake on this one.” Princess Luna said to the group, both Drakes looked to her. “Er…future Drake…sorry, but unless you forgot Drake we all had to endure hell to beat him, we cannot risk lives again.”   
  
“I promise I’ll be good.” Discord crossed his heart and placed his hand on one of his eyes but then comically took it out, “And I shall be keeping an eye on you too.”   
  
“That is disturbing.” Luna blankly said.  
  
“I don’t like this but…if for some reason my past self can trust him to an extent then…then let’s just hope this spell Woona can do will work.” Drake in his Alicorn body said aloud but as soon as he realised what he had called Princess Luna, one of the royal pony sisters and the Alicorn who controlled the Moon, he had just called her ‘Woona’! “Like I said, we should wait until after Princess Luna has completed her spell.”   
  
He hoped his emphasis on LUNA would throw everyone else off what he actually said, ‘Woona’ was a nickname he would usually call Princess Luna in his past which was her soon to be future. The reason he called her it, which now seemed to him had become a memory action to him, was due to extreme tension and companionship within the Universal War. Calling each other nicknames was a simple way of saying “hey, hells going on but you’re still my friend.”  
  
And now though, it hurt to say it.  
  
He thought it through, didn’t take much but he could never say it again, she wouldn’t know understand, the Luna he knew was dead… and felt it inside too.  
  
Reasons like this made him beg for his immortality to be taken away from him.  
  
“Anyway!” Celestia clapped her hands together and it snapped Drake from his trance, “Lets get started, I want my wings back.” She hopped onto the bed closest to her and Drake glanced at Luna who nodded to him, and with that he too laid on the bed closest to him but trying to lay down on a bed in an unfamiliar body was difficult for him but he soon had it figured out and was ready for Luna to perform her spells.  
  
“Are you both ready?” Princess Luna checked with them.  
  
“Yes.” They both replied at once.  
  
Twilight looked on in anxiety while Drake bit his lip in anticipation. Discord meanwhile was studying the tombs etched into the bed frames, hoping to understand them but they were old, very old, usually he could decipher spells and unravel them in a few seconds to know how to manipulate them but these… these mentally blew raspberries at him.  
  
“Ok then, close your eyes and we will start.” Luna explained to them, Celestia did as her sister told her and shut her eyes instantly and Drake shut his soon after.  
  
Luna’s horn lit up and the beds began to hum with energy, only slightly but it was enough to feel it from head to toe, or hoof in Drakes case. She closed her eyes and sat on her flank, her head bowed and almost like flicking a switch she had both her sister and Drake in a deep slumber, both snoring away.  
  
“Be safe Princess, human subconscious can be dangerous.” Drake advised her.  
  
“I will…” she murmured and in a few seconds she could feel her body dipping and lifting, rotating and swirling and then all of a sudden… she was falling.  
  
Princess Luna kept her eyes shut as she fell since she knew how entering dreams usually went, but entering two dreams at once would be new to her, especially if it was her sisters and her best friend’s dreams.  
  
She extended her wings to slow her down but she continued to fall at high speeds!  
  
Faster and faster she was falling, she opened her eyes to find herself head diving into a dark abyss, this was not supposed to be happening, something was going wrong! Could Discord be interfering with her magic she wondered?  
  
Her legs flailed and she screamed but there was no one around!  
  
“Help me!” she shouted out to the darkness, not even an echo called back to her.  
  
Her magic wouldn’t work in this darkness, it was familiar but for all the horrifying reasons. This darkness had engulfed her before when she became nightmare Moon and now it was threatening to swallow her once more!  
  
“I…am…coming…for…you…” a cold and chilling voice whispered around her, she was helpless to stop whatever was happening, she couldn’t fly or use any sort of magic and with dreams having no limitations there was no telling what would happen!  
  
As if something in the darkness heard her cries of terror she was grabbed by an invisible force and thrown with tremendous force across the void. She soared for a mere few seconds before she arced down and slammed into some kind of ground, her legs hurt and there was a ringing in her ears, her vision was blurred but she could see she had appeared in a circular room a few metres wide in diameter with a round roof made of cracked white marble with the floor she lay on made of luxury green emblems and golden stitching.  
  
She let herself get accustomed to her surroundings before working out her next step, her vision was the first to return to normal in a quick minute which allowed her to observe the room she was in.  
  
The walls were pure white with two doors that led out directly opposite of each other, she looked at both of them, they were identical in every way, they were both midnight black with purple round handles.  
  
Luna thought they MUST have been entrances into Drake and her sisters dreams, apart from those doors the room was empty.  
  
“Which one…” she tried to figure out which door would lead to who. “Guess I’ll just have to wing it.”  
  
She chuckled at her pun and flicked her wings out. “Nopony is ever around to hear these…”   
  
She picked the door on her right and trotted up to it, using her hoof she opened it and found on the other side of the door was Canterlot castle, she peered through the doorway and found the room she was already in was not part of the castle and just did not exist when seen from the other side of the door at all.  
  
“How strange, I wonder which one of them is this dream?” Luna walked through the doorway and let the door close behind her, looking back though she found the door had vanished. She cursed under her breath and looked around, she was in the main entranceway of her home and she was facing the large stairs heading upwards so she figured that would be the best place to start.  
  
“Hello?” she called out to the empty castle, no reply but there just HAD to be either Drake or Tia in the castle. “If nopony is here then no pony can stop me from eating ALL the chocolate cake!” she said very loudly to attract any attention, but upon looking for the kitchen door that sat beside the stairs on the ground level she found that it was gone like it had never existed.  
  
“Ok, that’s weird.”   
  
So this dream was made up of her home but modified in a few ways just like a dream, things that stood out for the owner of the dream were created but parts that were missing, like the kitchen, was clearly not important to the dreamer.  
  
Princess Luna thought back to a few weeks ago when she and her friend Drake shared chocolate cake together and she accidently kissed him, that kiss had always been on her mind since then and she couldn’t stop it. It was only a few seconds long but for some reason it had so much to her and she couldn’t DARE let herself go down that path, something like that could…  
  
She shook it from her mind and carried on walking upstairs towards the right wing which was her bedroom as well as the next level up was her sisters and Drakes room, something along round there must hold a clue to who’s dream this was.  
  
“Hello?” she called out again to whoever could be in this castle, or faux castle as it truly was.  
  
No reply, nothing, something was wrong, if it was Drake’s dream then he would call back and her sister would find her even quicker so why was nopony here?  
  
“I mourned for you…”   
  
That same raspy voice echoed around her with no particular source of it, she continually glanced around her in a three hundred and sixty degree circle but there was nopony here apart from her.  
  
“Who are you mourning?” she called out to the mysterious voice.  
  
Like all other times she had shouted out, there was no reply to her. This was getting far too creepy now and even though she was the princess of the night she did not like this one bit!  
  
Her hoof steps seemed to linger behind her and sometimes it seemed like they were ahead of her before she had even walked.  
  
It felt like forever to climb the spiral stairs that led up to their bedrooms since she could barely walk anymore, every step seemed to take every breath out of her body and exhausted her.  
  
“Dam it…I cant…keep doing this…where the hay are they?” she gasped breathlessly and collapsed onto the floor with her forelegs sprawled out in front of her.  
  
“Luna….”  
  
Her eyelids eased open and she believed she was hallucinating.  
  
“Luna….”  
  
She heard the voice again and this time she knew it was real, or at least as real as a dream could be in some messed up sense.  
  
“Hello?” she called out to the voice and hoped it would call back.  
  
“LUNA!” the voice screamed her name and Luna took off like a bullet towards the origin of the shriek. She was hurtling down a hallway that seemed to carry on forever, every turn she took was just another corridor to traverse down.   
  
“LUNA!” the voice screamed out again but this time she instantly recognised the voice, it was her sisters voice; could this be part of the dream or could this be her sister calling out for her?  
  
She literally flew around the next corner and found herself in the main hall of the castle, she remembered this was the hall that Princess Cadence and her husband Shining Armour got married in here.   
  
She didn’t have to look far for the source of the screaming, slowly she turned her head and her heart didn’t so much as sink but was grasped tightly and dragged to the bottom of the deepest ocean.  
  
It was her sister, in her own body, her white Alicorn wings were unfurled and she sat on the floor of the hall in a state of despair, her head was bowed in sorrow and her mane and tail had lost their vibrant colour. Tears fell from her face onto the floor to where a body was laying…Drake…but…younger…  
  
Drake was still, very still, she knew of this moment but she had never seen it before; her sister had and clearly haunting her dreams to this day. There was blood, a lot of it, oozing from Drake’s stomach.  
  
She had been told by her sister that Drake had been murdered by Discord, she hadn’t witnessed it since she had been occupied with the guards Discord governed who tried to pin her down and once down they had knocked her out; be it by magic or blunt force she didn’t know but the bottom line was she had not seen Drakes lifeless body until now. It was a horrible sight and something she had begged to be faux because she had not seen it with her own eyes, Luna had been told after Drake had vanquished Discord about his temporary death and she had cried even then but to see it first hand, kind of first hand, it was too much.  
  
This proved that this part was just a memory and was not true, but still very felt true.  
  
“You could have stopped Discord had you not surrendered to the Nightmare inside you!” Her sister growled at Luna.  
  
“It was a mistake I shall make again! I didn’t know he would mean so much to me!” she argued with Celestia’s memory.  
  
“You knew him well enough until then!” she screamed at Luna who stepped backwards out of fear of her sister. “YOU WERE HIS FRIEND!” Celestia charged at her younger sister with her horn pointed at Luna’s chest.  
  
Luna flew into the air and hovered for a few seconds.  
  
“I can’t change what I did, but I feel remorse every day because of my actions!” she watched her sister’s horn glow in anger.  
  
“He trusted you!” Celestia’s voice cracked and she fired a bolt of lightning at her own sister.  
  
Luna ducked in mid-air and just managed to dodge the magical attack.   
  
“I don’t know what your intention was by reverting to Nightmare Moon, be it stupidity or jealousy…” Princess Celestia watched her sister floating in front of her.  
  
“JEALOUSY?” Luna cried out in shock.  
  
“I know you both got on well but he loved me, not you!” Celestia shouted at her, Luna was horrified to hear her sister say such things about her. “You were never loved and it shows, mum and dad loved me, they were NEVER impressed by you, and why should they? You were worthless!”   
  
Luna fell to the ground in depression, what if everything this Celestia said to her was in fact her real sister and not part of the dream? Luna had always questioned the intentions of her parents, their love for her always had seemed to be outshone by her older sister.   
  
“When I banished you to the moon it was a relief because I didn’t have to listen to your annoying voice, your constant whining.” Celestia advanced on her sister. “The ponies don’t love me! Nopony likes my night! I’d better throw a hissy fit! Then my sister will HAVE to listen to me!” Princess Celestia continued to mock Luna, it hurt her to hear out loud in her sisters voice everything that Luna thought to herself every day and night.  
  
“Shut…. Shut up…” Luna tried to ignore the teary sensation in her eyes from distracting her.  
  
“Drake told me when he found you two ago in the Everfree forest.” Celestia said in a vicious hushed voice at her Luna, she looked up at her taller sibling and feared she knew what had been said, “He told me you cried, and you missed mommy and daddy.” Celestia began to chuckle.   
  
“I didn’t cry…” Luna whimpered but she knew emotions got the better of her that night.  
  
“Like a little foal.” Celestia continued to mentally torture her. “You’ve got friends here, Twilight Sparkle has only ever shown friendship towards you because she is MY student and feels sorry for you.”  
  
“Ponies DO care about me!” Luna cried, she just wanted this to stop.  
  
“No one cares, and no one would miss you if left, even if you died no one would show up for your funeral; it would just be a hassle…”  
  
Luna couldn’t stop the tears now, they fell down her face and onto the dream floor, even if this wasn’t her sister it hurt too much to deny it, everything was getting too much for Luna.  
  
“Enough!” she heard a second voice and looked up in time to see another bolt of magic fire from an unseen source which shattered the Celestia standing over her, her faux sister fell like glass shards onto the floor. Luna looked around in a fluster and saw her sister standing at the archway of the long passages of corridors, this Celestia had more vibrant colours in her mane and tail and a much more compassionate look in her face. Luna didn’t think for one more second she had to look for her sister anymore.  
  
“Sister.” Celestia walked towards her younger sibling, her hoof steps echoed and hung in the silence of the hall.  
  
“TIA!” Luna cried out and galloped to her sister who greeted her with a warmth embrace. “I’m so sorry for everything I’ve done to you!” Luna sobbed into her sister’s chest.  
  
“What are you sorry about?” Celestia asked her sister.  
  
“Everything! For…betraying you…and my…friends…and…and…and…” Luna tried to grasp at her words but was not able to stop her uncontrollable crying.  
  
“That wasn’t your fault sister dear.” Celestia tried to comfort her sister but she couldn’t help.  
  
“But it is my fault…it always is!” Luna continued.  
  
Celestia held her sister and kissed her forehead, it was impossible to try and console her at this point in time, she had only just entered into this room and had not heard what the phony Celestia said to her younger sister but clearly it was enough to upset her deeply.  
  
She had always known Luna felt awful about the events in her life but the events now, this upcoming war, Drake coming back from the future, ponies going missing, and for Luna to be slap bang in the middle of all this; it just wasn’t fair.  
  
It was really breaking Luna down.  
  
  
  
  
  
Meanwhile in the library Twilight and Drake were delving deeper and deeper into what could only be described as extreme boredom, they had started talking about the spells Princess Luna was using on the beds to enter Drake and Princess Celestia’s dream, he asked her if she recognised the spells to which she denied knowing any of them. They were now discussing the many uses of a rubber duck, they took it in turns to name methods of utilizing them, Twilight was on method 67.  
  
“Er…you could…use it as a hat.” She was laying down on her front while Drake was sitting against a bookcase a few feet from her, the two beds and Luna sat in the middle of the room and the duo sat near the stairs at the back. “Your turn.”  
  
“Alright, number 68…you could potentially use it as a pinkie pie attractor.” He chuckled.  
  
“You had that one.” Twilight said in a bored tone.  
  
“Well I can’t see how you could use it as a hat.” Drake crossed his arms in frustration. He pulled out his LCD screen with the motherboard still hanging very loosely, a timer was counting upwards on the screen in green but was beginning to fritz every time it reached a unit of ten seconds. “They must be done soon, it’s been six hours!” Drake groaned loudly, he heard Discord moan even louder from the second floor.  
  
“Ugh, will you shut up! All I hear is your constant moaning.” Discord sat up and peered over the edge of the floor at them, “No wonder your species kill each other, you moan at everything!” he quickly crawled back to where he was hiding, Spike had come home from what Drake said was stalking Rarity and was now settled with Discord being here as well as the magical spells going on in the middle of the house.   
  
“What the hell are you two even doing up there?” Drake asked loudly, they had found out a while ago that whatever spell Luna had put on herself and the two was such a deep sleep that Drake could play his music very loudly and not disturb them in the slightest.  
  
“Chess!” Spikes voice came from upstairs.  
  
“We used to play that…” Twilight sulked.  
  
“I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much as I should have.” Drake turned back to her and stretched out his arms.  
  
“Guess I just keep focusing on the past.” Twilight bit her bottom lip.   
  
“Checkmate!” Spikes shout came from upstairs followed by Discords groan.  
  
“Forget this!” Discord moaned and slammed his fist down on the floor.  
  
“Having a moment are you Discord?” Drake asked loudly and chuckled.  
  
“I’m always having a moment!” he called back.  
  
Twilight put her hoof to her muzzle to stifle her laughter, she felt safer with Drake by her side but nowhere near what she would call safe to start with because of their history with Discord.  
  
Drake crossed his arms and huffed. Would he regret letting Discord awake from his forced slumber? Thing is, if he was willing to work with the enemy then this was going to be big, trying to get into Canterlot Castle with Discord was going to be anything but easy or simple and not to forget the imposter who was taking his fiancés place.  
  
“Penny for your thoughts?” Twilight plainly asked.  
  
“How deep of a hole we are in.” he replied.  
  
“What do you mean?” Twilight stood up and looked around as if there was a literal hole.  
  
“Just look Twilight.” Drake said, she knew what he was talking about though, usually spending time with the royal pony sisters was a big deal to her or anypony else, but now…it was dangerous, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the unmoving trio in a deep sleep. “I’ve been in love with Celestia for a long time and, I don’t know how I loved the fake Celestia the same way as I did the real one. So being my best friend I ask you Twilight.” He looked at her in the eyes, “Do I actually love her?”   
  
  
  
  
  
Princess Luna was standing with her sister back in the circular room that she had originally found herself in when she entered the dreams.  
  
“This is unreal…” Celestia was constantly looked around her and observing everything that had been missing in her dream of Canterlot Castle.  
  
“Well duh, it’s a dream.” Luna added, her sister sighed and frowned, “If you’re going into my fiancés dream I want to go with you.”  
  
“No!” Luna instantly snapped around and stopped her sister from taking another step forwards, “For some reason and I’m sorry sis, but that dream belongs to a human who ISNT your fiancé.” Celestia looked upset. “And I know none of us want to accept that because you are so happy with him, but he isn’t happy with you.” It was true that Luna didn’t like the idea of Drake not being her brother in law since he seemed great with her sister, it wasn’t like they finished each other sentences or shared each other’s food but more along the lines of they were more of one than they were two, being different species didn’t affect them in any way at all.  
  
“So you just expect me to sit here and wait for you?” she asked sarcastically.  
  
“That’s all I can ask you to do.” Luna replied and turned the face the second door, this one was dark green with a golden round handle. “I will try and return as soon as I find him but I fear that may be a while.”  
  
“Just find him, he may not love me anymore but I still do.” Celestia said.  
  
Luna breathed deeply and readied herself, her sisters dream had made Luna feel awful about herself so whatever could be in an ex-war human’s dream must surely be worse.  
  
Using her magic to grab the door handle, she twisted it to the left and let it swing open. Through the door she could see the etchings of buildings, it looked like Ponyville but…empty. There were no ponies to be seen, she stepped through the door and let it shut behind her, once again the door vanished and she’d have to find another.  
  
Biting her lower lip she thought the best place to search would be Twilight Sparkles library due to it being Drakes second home and where he had lived when he had first arrived in Equestria, but as she began to walk towards the centre of town where she could spot Twilights library with ease she could hear voices, but it was her voice that she could hear, was this part of the imagination of Drake or could it be a memory?  
  
She followed the source of the talking and turned around a corner of one of the buildings that appeared to look EXACTLY the same as every other building, it wasn’t a shot at Ponyville being boring; the buildings did all look the exact same, straw roof and white wooden walls.  
  
Around the corner of the building she saw Drake sitting on the edge of the towns well, around them were five buildings that faced the well and the floor his feet scrapped along was paved with cobblestone.  
  
“Drake?” she called out softly to him, he didn’t look at her but seemed to be da dreaming and staring at his black shoes, he was wearing black trousers and a short sleeved black shirt that was ripped down one sleeve.  
  
“So what do we do next Woona?” he said out loud without stopping watching his feet gently scrape against the floor.  
  
“I’m just glad it’s actually you…” Luna walked towards him but then…  
  
“First of all you stop moaning about everything and we go looking for the Element of Loyalty.”  
  
Luna turned around quickly in time to see herself walk towards her, this Princess Luna though had a short cut mane that resembled a pixie cut, and her tail was cut shorter than her usual length but not by a huge amount.  
  
“And where the hell would that be?” she heard Drake reply, she walked backwards so she could observe the both of them together, Drake jumped up from the wells wall and almost swagger towards her.  
  
The Luna with the short cut mane raised a hoof as if to say “I don’t know.”  
  
“So you’re sticking with ‘Woona’ then?” Luna smirked.  
  
“Yep, because it sounds cute…” Drake walked up close to Luna and ran a finger down her cheek. “And you are very cute.” His lips pinched together at a corner and he tapped her nose very gently.  
  
“You’re just saying that.” Both Luna’s blushed at the same time, Drake turned away from his Woona and pressed a few buttons on the device that was on his wrist. Luna figured this must have been early days in the war since this had not happened to her yet and Drakes attitude was less rough around the edges even going as far as calling Luna cute!  
  
“I say it because it’s true.” He replied and music began to softly play from his device, Luna looked at her double and saw she was trying not to smile by biting her lip and looking away from him. “I see you remember this.”   
  
“Of course I do…” Luna let a glimpse of a grin escape onto her lips and by revealing that grin it made Drake extend his hand out to her.  
  
“Then come on.” He wiggle his fingers and she watched herself walk towards him with a slight skip in her step.  
  
Luna was excited to see what would happen next but as if the dream was trying to put her down the pair of them suddenly faded away in a fine mist which drifted along a slight breeze.  
  
“No! Wait!” Luna cried out, as if that would help though.  
  
“I said I was sorry!” she suddenly heard another voice of hers come from behind her, she spun around to see a small flight of stairs leading from the area between the houses towards a different part of Ponyville town centre.  
  
Another remnant of her was standing at the bottom of the stairs looking up at another Drake who wore a dark blue collared shirt and stained white jeans, he was facing away from her but she didn’t need to see the expression on his face to know his current emotion.  
  
“Sorry doesn’t even begin to describe what you should be!” he had his arms crossed and his legs were together.  
  
“Just tell me what I can do to make it better!” she called up to him.  
  
But as if that were a trigger to him, he suddenly turned around and jumped down the few steps and became face to face with her, his eyes were swollen and red; he had been distraught.  
  
“I mourned for you!” he screamed at her, Luna raised a hoof to her gapping mouth and feared what had been the story behind that. “One call is all it would have taken.”  
  
“I was looking for you, I truly was but you had gone off the radar.” She heard herself reply.  
  
“I ripped apart every member of the Black hole Guardians, I killed them all and all you can say is you’re sorry?!” he exclaimed and walked away from her to which Luna quickly followed him.  
  
“Yea, I heard about that.”  
  
Luna was heavily surprised at the events Drake had just described, had he really killed an entire group out of revenge for her or was he trying to interrogate them to find her, but since he had told her he mourned for her she guessed it must have been a fit of anger and revenge.  
  
An air of silence between them was tormenting, Luna’s eyes kept flicking back and forth between herself and Drake; her double was staring at the floor out of resentment while Drake was looking away from her like he was trying to look somewhere else other than at her.  
  
“I found another one.” Luna’s voice cut through the air like a knife to which Drake tilted his head to the side to look at her, Luna was still looking at the floor but had her eyes open this time.  
  
“So that’s what you were doing all this time?” he rhetorically asked her but Luna nodded in response anyway.  
  
As if his words were another trigger, they both faded away like mist again and Luna was left on her own.  
  
“NO!” she instinctively cried out and tried to jump into the figures that had been standing before her but she landed in a crumpled heap on the floor, her head missing the stone steps by inches.  
  
Luna hoped that another pair of the two of them would appear again but after a while she realised they would not be appearing again in this area so she kept walking towards Twilights library in hope to find the real Drake.  
  
Everything was silent which worried her, Ponyville was never this silent in reality but in a dream anything could happen.  
  
Suddenly lightning flashed around her which made her jump almost out of her skin, she quickly looked around and found there was not a cloud in the pale blue sky.  
  
“Gonna start raining soon.”  
  
She heard drakes voice again and tried to see where his voice was coming from, she went around a corner and saw him and a small purple dragon carrying what appeared to be bedding.  
  
“We need to get back to the library before…” she heard Drake begin to say and then him and Spike acted like they were in a rainstorm but Luna could see no clouds or rain.  
  
“Before we get wet?” Spike finished his sentence.  
  
They both broke into a run towards where Luna had originally been running to, she decided to follow them and hoped it would be quicker to get to the library. She galloped after them, they had no clue she was so close since they were memories of Drakes past, Luna didn’t know about this bit because she hadn’t been so close to him when this happened and thus was not present.  
  
They turned another corner but once she followed after them she found they two had suddenly disappeared, Luna cursed under her breath and stomped her hoofs.  
  
“Annoying isn’t it?”  
  
His voice was clear and her mouth dropped open when she heard it.  
  
She turned around and saw Drake sitting on a bench next to a flowerpot against the brick wall of the building she had run around. She looked around herself and didn’t see anyone else so this was not a memory or part of the dream.  
  
“Are you…real?” she had to make sure, chasing dreams and figments of herself was tiring.  
  
“As real as I get.” He weakly smiled, “You must be tired, you’ve been running through my mind all day.” He pointed behind her and Luna hesitated to look behind her in case when she turned back he was gone, but quickly glancing behind her she could see five, maybe six versions of herself all with short manes or long manes running through Ponyville. “Cheesy line I know.” Drake stood up and groaned.  
  
“Took your time though, worried you got lost.” He told her.  
  
Luna didn’t say anything but instead proceeded to slowly lift her hoof and prod Drakes chest, he leaned back an inch and then when she took her hoof away he leaned forward again.  
  
“Like I said, it’s still me.” Luna smiled softly. “Any way out of here? You made it.” He asked her.  
  
“It will be a door or…something…” her mind was not focused at this point in time, she was far more concerned about the events she had seen in this short time she had been in his dream.  
  
Why did he mourn her? What had prompted him to call her Woona? It was an odd name, her name did not contain a W but it did sound cuter that way she admitted.  
  
“Let’s find that door then.” Drake was looking around the clearing they were in, a statue of a pony he could not put a name to even though it was in his dream, a few shrubberies here and there but nothing too extravagant.  
  
Luna did not move from her spot, her mind was a jumble of questions, everything was getting too much as she couldn’t take it anymore!  
  
“FOR FUCK SAKE!” she screamed out loud which prompted Drake to look at her in confusion.  
  
“What’s wrong?”   
  
It was like he didn’t understand her at all and it annoyed her severely. She gritted her teeth and tried to get her ducks in a row before firing off.  
  
“What did you see?” Drakes tone changed, he was serious now as he must have known Luna had been shown something in his dream but even though it was his dream he did not know what she had seen, it could have been something small or…something horrific.  
  
“Explain everything to me.” Luna simply said, Drake looked at her with hesitation, licked his lips, placed his hands on his hips and looked away.  
  
“Explain what?” he asked but he knew what Luna wanted to know, he admitted to himself that he had held back a lot of truths from everyone especially Luna because of certain elements of her future.  
  
“First of all, why am I called Woona to you?” she sat down on her flank to indicate that she was not moving from that spot until she was satisfied. She saw in the glass reflections that the other versions of herself had disappeared so it was just Drake and her.  
  
Drake walked towards her slowly, the sound of his footsteps was daunting to Luna.  
  
“I call you that because… it helped us both get through each day and it felt like I was closer to you than anyone else.” He sat down in front of her, she was taller than him by a few inches but it didn’t matter because he rarely looked at her during their talk.  
  
“One of the things I said, that I found another one. What did I find that made you mourn for me?” Luna asked, she didn’t look at Drake but she knew he was looking at her.  
  
A silence between them was horrible for Drake, he didn’t want Luna to find this out, especially not in this way.  
  
“An element of Harmony.” His voice cracked, “I don’t just have the Element of Magic in me anymore Luna.”   
  
They both locked eyes with each other and Luna knew this was extremely serious now.  
  
“I’ve got all six.”  
  
Luna breathed deeply and tried to steady herself, this was worrying to hear that he could go nuclear at any point.  
  
“Why?” she simply asked.  
  
“Because I needed to be a weapon to fight against everything if I needed to.” He slowly put the palms of his hands together and watched small brightly coloured rainbow sparks jump between them.  
  
“Isn’t that dangerous?” she too was watching the sparks between his hands.  
  
“I can control them easily enough, just took some time and magical training.” He put his hands down beside himself and leaned back.  
  
“Who trained you?” Luna asked, Drake looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Oh.”  
  
“So then, you’re a weapon now?” Luna asked, the tone in her voice sounded worried.  
  
“Don’t worry about that, I put my friendship before everything else.” Drake said, “Anything else?”  
  
“Nope.”   
  
Drake sighed happily and stood up, “Come on then, let’s get out of here.” Luna quickly stood up and joined his side, Drake smelt of mint and it was pleasant to walk next to him whereas Luna smelt like Lavender to Drake which made him smile.  
  
“Oh, I forgot something to tell you.” He stopped and Luna stopped too, she was slightly in front of him but it was only a small distance.  
  
“What’s that?” she asked, perplexed.  
  
“I know you kissed me.”   
  
Luna was astonished and shocked to her core, how the hell did he know?  
  
“H…how long….” She stuttered, if her sister found out she could have a massive fallout with her.  
  
“Two days after my war started.” He replied.  
  
“Did I tell you…” she needed to know.  
  
“No, the war was only small at this point so we were in a bunker, drunk, and we ended up kissing.” He replied, no smile this time though.  
  
“Wow...that’s…never thought I’d do that…” Luna was flabbergasted by all this.  
  
“I think we both guessed we’d be dead by morning.” He told her.  
  
Luna looked towards where they had been walking, in the distance at the end of Ponyville was a green door she spotted.  
  
“Go through there and it will take us back to your dream.” Drake said. “It’s my dream and I wanted that door.”   
  
Luna looked at it for a few seconds.  
  
“Look…” she started, her heart was beating faster than she could remember it had done ever before. “We have time to do anything we want in this dream…” she dragged her hoof along the grass under her hooves. “So…I was wondering, if I’m your Woona…”  
  
“Hey.” Drake’s voice became soft and Luna felt his hands touch her face, she tilted up to see him looking into her beautiful light blue eyes that shone bright against her dark blue fur. “Kisses are much better if we are both awake.”   
  
Luna smiled warmly and embraced Drake in a tight hug using her wings like her sister did, he too held her tightly and for a split second he was not hugging a different time of his best friend; but he was in fact hugging his Woona once more.  
  
But then reality hit him and it hit him hard. He may have been hugging Princess Luna; his best friend and the Alicorn that kept him safe during three weeks of hell, but it wasn’t his Woona that he was hugging and it never could be ever again.  
  
Because his Woona was dead.  
  
But he held Princess Luna and he enjoyed it, but Drake knew there was a part of Princess Luna that potentially could be Woona as all Woona was, was a future version of Princess Luna but it just didn’t seem right to ask her to become that.  
  
“We should go join my sister.” Princess Luna said and relieved Drake of the hug, his eyes grew wider.  
  
“Celestia is waiting for us?” Drake asked surprised.  
  
“I found her dream first, you’ll be in your own body soon enough.” She cheerily said and they both continued to walk towards the dark green door side by side. Reaching the door went quicker than they knew it, neither of them spoke until they reached the door.  
  
“Once we step through that door, you wont have time to talk to my sister as the magic is bound to your bodies so you will instantly be in your own bodies once more.” She smiled and marvelled at her work.  
  
“Anyone tell you that you’re a genius?” Drake smiled back which made Luna chuckle, he always thought she had an adorable laugh.  
  
“Just you.” She replied and opened the door for Drake to step through, he thanked her, took a strong breath and stepped through the door.  
  
  
  
  
  
Back in Twilights library, Twilight had been pretending to sit like Drake by sitting on her flank but with her back against a bookcase like a human would sit, meanwhile Drake was lying on his front with his head to the side.   
  
“I am so bored!” he yelled out.  
  
“Ugh, shut…up! You keep going on saying that!” Twilight was exasperated by him.  
  
“It’s been ten hours! How long do we have to wait?” Discord was laying upstairs but his upper body was lounging off the side of the second floor.  
  
All of a sudden Luna, Drake and Celestia began to stir from their sleep. Twilight was first up and by Princess Celestia’s side, Drake got up quickly afterwards and was also by his fiancé, making sure she was ok.   
  
“Celestia?” he asked, making sure it was her this time and not his future self.  
  
“Hey…” Princess Celestia said weakly, Drake was ecstatic and hugged his fiancé tightly, she was still very drowsy but used a wing to hug him back.  
  
Discord watched from the second floor, this time he sat upright and paid attention.  
  
Princess Luna opened her eyes and see instantly saw her sister being seen to by her student and her fiancé, whereas no pony had greeted her or thanked her. She looked to her right and saw Drake sitting sideways facing away from Celestia on his bed rubbing his eyes, his hair was spiked out at the back where he had slept on a pillow and now looked messy.  
  
“Nice hair…” Luna’s voice cracked as she had been asleep for longer than she usually slept due to being princess of the night but had trouble sleeping in the day, it was a pain she knew.  
  
“I’m just glad it’s my hair.” He replied and tried to flatten it.  
  
“You’re all ok then?” Discord asked from upstairs.  
  
“Just sleepy I guess is all, but yea we’re all good.” Celestia replied.  
  
“Right then, can we get planning to take back Canterlot Castle please?” Discord jumped to what everyone knew what would be coming next. Drake on his bed turned sharply to glare at Discord, he knew the reason Discord wanted to help due to his own reasons, but a God of chaos would be nothing to sneeze at, something Rarity would say, then probably sneeze as she usually did.  
  
“I agree, I want my home back.” Celestia stood up off the bed and faced her fiancé, “You’ll help me?”   
  
“You never need to ask that sweetie.” He replied and hugged her tightly, Princess Luna saw him hugging her and looked back to the Drake on his bed still and he looked at her and instantly knew what she was thinking.  
  
“Twilight, write a letter.” He loudly told her, Twilight Sparkle quickly grabbed a quill and scroll.  
  
“Who shall I address it to?” she asked him, the quill hovering above her head.  
  
“Address it to Shining Armour, I’m still second in command to the military and I’m going to show this imposter no one messes with my best friends.”  
  
He looked at Princess Luna, then to Princess Celestia and then Twilight Sparkle, Discord was still watching him nervously.  
  
“Last time this happened it was too late for me to do anything, let’s stop this war before anypony dies.” He stood up and walked to the front door, “Luna, can you come outside please?”  
  
Princess Luna was quick on her hooves but the magic she had cast had made her uneasy and she wobbled about a bit before finally reaching the door with Drake, they both quickly exited the Library before anyone could say anything.  
  
It was sunrise, clearly the imposter in Canterlot had the magic to control the sun and moon so fighting head on would be difficult but…Drake had a plan, well… a plan B, and it was something he had to tell Luna about.  
  
“What’s up?” She asked him, clearly though she thought he was going to kiss her but he wanted to delay it till after everyone was out of the woods and the war was non-existent.  
  
“Luna, there’s a problem I’ve been thinking about all the time I’ve been here.” He looked at her and spoke in a very serious tone. “If I cant stop this war, there are events that will which will be worse than death and due to the influences ive made in this timeline, I don’t think we will get out of it a second time.” He told her.  
  
“Then what shall we do?” she asked quietly.  
  
Drake looked at the door to the Library to make sure no pony had followed and then quickly looked around to make sure no pony was near them.  
  
“You are the only one who knows I have all six elements of magic in me.” Luna nodded in agreement, “I can’t go through with this war again Luna, I just can’t, I can’t put my friends in danger again and I can’t deal with the trauma it will bring.” Drake rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands and was getting emotional to which Princess Luna could see, she quickly walked up to him and held him very tightly with her wings.  
  
“Hey, it’s alright, you’re with me.” She needed him to know that she wouldn’t let him go through that alone and hugged him very VERY tightly.  
  
“Luna.” He held her tightly as well. “If I can’t stop this war, I can release all the magic inside me and…” he bit his bottom lip and buried his face in her mane, he couldn’t believe he was even considering this. “I can perform a mercy killing on a worldwide scale.”   
  
Luna heard him well enough and even though the idea hurt her emotionally, she knew as well that it might have to be something they would have to consider if none of their plans worked.  
  
“Drake, like I said, you’re with me.” She held him tightly again and felt the tears build up in her eyes.  
  
“You’re my Woona.” He sobbed into her mane and she silently let her tears fall onto his black shirt.


	20. A New Team

Princess Luna sat on her flank outside Twilight Sparkle’s library with the early morning sun on her face, a constant gentle breeze blew through her long midnight blue mane carrying the smells of a new day with it; cuttings of grass and the pollen from the flowers sitting in clay pots under the window sills of Twilight’s home.  
  
Her heart was beating faster and faster with every growing minute, it had been half an hour since she had walked outside with Drake whom she would occasionally glance at. His jet black hair was still spiked out at the back but was beginning to flatten as time ticked by, she had only noticed now that his black shirt was torn at the bottom while one of the shoulder stiches was torn slightly, his black trousers were ripped at the bottom and had dry blood stains on them on just one side. Drake was sitting on a small bench clearly built for small ponies the size of Twilight Sparkle rather than six foot tall humans, he was running his fingernails along the side of his short beard while he had been watching ponies go about their day; due to recent chaotic events and his stance in the royal pony family, civilian ponies did not swarm him nor did they fascinate over Princess Luna.  
  
“My sister was in your body for a time, do you think she knows?” Luna asked worryingly, if Princess Celestia knew that Drake had kept secrets of this magnitude from her there was no telling how angry she could be.  
  
“I fear she might do, she will find out eventually though.” He replied, breathing in and out slowly.  
  
“Say we stop this war then, and all the other crap from happening.” Luna looked at her hooves, they were dirty and dusty. “What will happen between you and my sister?”  
  
Drake thought that about for a few seconds, he had known he would never be with her again but not once did he think what he would do if he was around her once more.  
  
“In many ways I do still love her Luna but…”   
  
Luna knew deep down that he would still love her because he had spent nearly three years with her, but he had never come up with a nickname for her sister, whereas he had done with her, she didn’t want to feel jealous in anyway but it did creep up a bit.  
  
“She abandoned me when I needed her and you didn’t, which makes all the difference to me.” He looked at her and have a quick smile as if to say thank you.  
  
“But we know it wasn’t actually her, so do you think…”  
  
“Luna, every time I see her all I can think of is how she left me to die, I just can’t love her again.” Drake put his head in his hands and groaned loudly.  
  
“What do humans do to relieve stress?” she asked mid thought.  
  
“What?” he looked at her with astonishment, he never thought she would be the one to ask about human personality, she never did in nearly three whole years of knowing him.  
  
“It’s just, why don’t you do something as a human wants to do?” she felt a little sheepish asking him this, but in two days this war would begin and it would all be too late.  
  
“Humans do a lot of things to remove stress Luna, but I don’t think now is the right time.” He stood up and his knees creaked, Princess Luna watched his every movement. “Are you coming back inside?” he asked her with his hand on the door knob to the library.  
  
“Yea, er… can I have a few minutes to get my thoughts in a row?” she asked him, he nodded and let himself into the library with the door clicking shut behind him.  
  
Princess Luna used her magic to levitate her crown off her head and onto the bench Drake had been sitting on. She breathed a bit easier with the symbol of her royalty off. This sucked she thought to herself!  
  
Luna knew Drake had issues with her sister but she just wanted somepony to love her, to see passed her as the villainous Nightmare Moon or not to see her as a Princess, but just to see her as Luna. Drake had done this in so many ways for her, tiny ways such as telling her when her jokes where awful when everypony else made fake laughs, or even when he offered her freshly baked shortbread he had cooked when he became bored. Luna wondered to herself if she had not become Nightmare Moon again nearly three years ago, would he have fallen in love with her rather than her sister.  
  
So Princess Luna would do now what she did every single day, she levitated her crown onto head, she stood up and put on a fake smile to pretend she was ok.  
  
Walking back into the library she found her sisters fiancé pushing what looked to be a very heavy table into the middle of the room, he was straining to push it a few inches. Her sister was standing with Drake who noticed Luna walking into the room immediately and gave a nod to her then carried on talking to Celestia about a list of attacks surrounding: Ponyville, Canterlot, Manehatten, Cloudsdale and a few other places dotted around Equestria.   
  
Discord kept glancing at Drake, when he was not looking at him he was busy writing notes down on a parchment using a candle as a quill. Twilight Sparkle was busy with Spike sending off letter after letter which he blew away in a cloud of green smoke that shot out the window and off to ponies that must have been deemed important to the current situation.  
  
Drake noticed his past self struggling with the heavy table and whispered to Celestia who quickly used her magic to levitate it to where he had been trying to push it, leaving him to fall flat on his face.  
  
“I hate you all…” he muttered and then sheepishly got to his feet, Luna walked over to him quickly with a slight trot, and her hoof steps hung in the air for a second while she did so.  
  
“Is there anything I can do to help?” she asked Drake, he looked around and then breathed out.  
  
“I don’t think so Luna, I think we’ve got it covered here.” He replied which made Luna feel even more useless. Drake ran to the side of the library where a light blue cupboard piled with old books was, he yanked open the doors and rummaged around in it. “Twi, where are the maps of Equestria you keep?” Luna thought to herself that could have been something she could have done…  
  
“Here.” Twilight used her magic to throw a bundle of maps tied together with a thick bit of red ribbon.  
  
Drake quickly grabbed them and then checked the corners of each one for something.  
  
“Ok, I found the map detailing Equestria.” He rolled the map out on the table he had been trying to move, the map instantly rolled back up. “Luna?” he beckoned to her and she sullenly used her magic to hold the map corners down. Great, she was as useful as a paper weight….  
  
“Rifts will open up here…and here…” Drake walked away from Princess Celestia and stood beside Luna, he marked out on the map the different spots using a black pen. “Guardians of the black hole will come through from this point, they need to be stopped under immediately.” Drake looked up so he was looking at Discord in particular. “Lethal force if necessary.” Discord nodded in return and wrote it down.  
  
“I don’t think we need to kill them!” his past self snapped at him.  
  
“I was there, we do.” He replied as if he was talking to an idiot, “Just take my word for it.”   
  
“Whatever.” He crossed his arms and bit his bottom lip, he caught a glimpse of his future self glaring at him.   
  
“Don’t argue about this with me, I WILL burn you.”   
  
Everyone in the room became silent and stopped what they were doing, the air became charged with anger that made even Luna feel uneasy being around Drake.  
  
“If he dies though, doesn’t that mean you won’t exist?” Discord finally asked, of course he would end up being the one to question reality.  
  
“There are a few ideas about time travel, one of them being whatever I do in the past won’t affect me.” Drake seethed without breaking eye contact with his former self.  
  
“Anyway…” Twilight Sparkle said aloud to try and break the tension.  
  
“Like I said, use lethal force Discord.” He repeated himself and quickly glanced at Discord. Princess Celestia looked at her fiancé who wasn’t fazed by this. “Any thing comes to invade Equestria I want our armies to show why that’s a bad idea.”   
  
“Hang on a minute.” Discord dropped his arms down to his side but still held onto the paper he was writing on as well as still clutching the candle. “I’ve got an army as well, I might let you use that.” He grinned and felt useful.  
  
Just as Twilight was about to have a ferocious flashback to her time being imprisoned by Discord and his army, both Drakes could be heard chuckling to themselves.  
  
“And what is so funny?” Discord spat, he thought both Drakes would be merely laughing at his excuse of an army, just because the armies on his planet were far more powerful.  
  
“They’re dead.” They both said at the exact same time.  
  
Once again, everyone in the room became silent and all eyes were flicking between both Drakes and Discord who seemed to grow in concern and anger.  
  
“What…”  
  
“Discord, you were gone for two and a half years and I’m second in command to Shining Armour…” Future Drake started off.  
  
“I gave the order to hunt them down and wipe them out, if there’s any left they’ll know better than to come out even if it is you calling to them.” The other Drake finished off.  
  
“You killed my army?” Discord angrily stepped towards future Drake but he quickly walked up to face him first.  
  
“Yea I did, and I don’t regret it, bitch!” Drake snarled at Discord, “You hurt my friends and I won’t forget that for as long I live so me wiping out your…piss…of an army is just the tip of the iceberg.”  
  
“You may have killed me, but I will bury you.” Drake growled viciously at Discord leaving him to glance at Princess Celestia but she just gave a look that said that one’s not mine.  
  
“So the only army we have then is achievable AFTER we somehow get into Canterlot Castle undetected with both Royal pony sisters and the only two humans in Equestria then deal with whatever is impersonating Celestia?” Discord walked away from Drake and leaned against a bookcase which made Twilight Sparkle cough loudly to make him get off her books.  
  
“No pressure.” Princess Celestia said in a cheery tone.  
  
“And there’s no way you can contact your own people for help?” Discord asked, his eyebrows raised in anticipation of Drake’s answer.  
  
“Not at all, I’m trying to make sure my species DON’T get in.” he replied and carried on marking up different points on the map by circling areas and writing in small words next to them.  
  
“What do they do?” Drake heard his past self ask him, he stopped writing and looked up at him.  
  
“I’ll tell you later.” He told himself.  
  
“Don’t you think we should all know?” Princess Luna asked him but also said it aloud for everyone else to agree.  
  
Drake stood still and tried to get his words right, and then he knew what to say, he looked back to his old self and simply said…  
  
“Chernobyl.”  
  
“No…” his old self was clearly shocked, he knew that no one else in Equestria knew about the nuclear meltdown of Chernobyl on Earth so clearly the humans were bringing something to do with nuclear fusion, they would need to control the explosion so…they were bringing Nuclear Warheads.  
  
“What? What’s Chernobyl?” Princess Celestia hastily asked her fiancé.  
  
“An incentive to work harder to stop this war.” He replied, the look on his face proved to Celestia that this was deadly serious to him if it had not shown to her before.  
  
So now both Drakes were looking over the large map of Equestria while Princess Luna and Celestia watched on in awe.  
  
“Alpha team will compose of ten unicorns deployed at twenty three hundred hours, once they signal of their arrival Bravo team will move to their position and defend the cracks in…this quadrant.” Future Drake used his pen to quickly and accurately set the map into a grid pattern.  
  
Princess Luna looked up at her sister in a smug facial expression.  
  
“Mines better than yours.” She chuckled, Princess Celestia looked at her confused.  
  
“They’re both the same.” She disagreed with her younger sister, looking back at the pair of humans who were both discussing strategies and deployments and spoke in the same military flare of language. “So where did you both learn to devise plans like this?”   
  
“Call of duty.” They both replied at the same time, Princess Celestia looked back at her sister with that I told you so look she did.  
  
“Miss Sparkle, are there any reply letters yet?” Princess Luna asked her, Twilight shook her head and told her none had come through yet.  
  
“Perhaps no one wants to help.” Discord meanly said.  
  
“I highly doubt that…” Princess Luna told him. “But I wonder why no one has replied.” She put her hoof to her muzzle and thought to herself.  
  
Meanwhile Drake, Luna’s Drake, was having an idea why no one had sent a letter back.  
  
“Twilight, do me a favour and send to Luna.” He told her nicely, Twilight Sparkle and Spike both looked at each other then looked at Princess Luna.  
  
“If you want to tell her about friendship she’s right there.” Twilight told him, he sighed and placed his hands on the map focusing his attention upon Canterlot.  
  
“Just, please do it.” He asked her again.  
  
Twilight huffed and grabbed a new scroll to write upon it “Dear Princess Luna.” She did not write anything else upon it but intended to leave the rest of it blank, she waved it over to Spike who proceeded to blow his dragon breath upon it and it disappeared into a thick cloud of green smoke.  
  
Everyone waited, expecting the letter to appear before Luna in a second, if not sooner. But it did not, it never arrived.  
  
“It’s not that ponies aren’t responding, it’s that no one is getting them in the first place.” Celestia’s Drake said aloud to the group.  
  
“Oh, she’s using one of my old spells.” Discord proudly announced. “It blocks all forms of letters from reaching their desired pony.”  
  
“So it’s someone who knows your magic well enough to copy it.” Drake said to himself while scratching his beard.   
  
“Also someone who hates Celestia but doesn’t hate us, she would have killed me and you but made sure she was imprisoned rather than killed for some reason.” The other Drake added to his future selves thoughts.   
  
“That sounds like Queen Chrysalis.” Spike angrily exclaimed, Celestia’s fiancé shook his head.  
  
“She’s on our side now, I spoke with her before I released Discord.” He said without looking up from the map he was peering at.  
  
“So how do we know you’re not the enemy?” Discord asked him, the other Drake sighed loudly.  
  
“Because if he was the enemy then why the hell would I be here?” he exclaimed loudly.  
  
“Yea I guess there’s that…” Discord muttered to himself.  
  
“What would be the best way to get to Canterlot then? We can’t exactly walk through Equestria as royalty.” Celestia said, and that was very true, two Alicorns accompanied by two humans as well as Discord.  
  
Princess Luna spotted Drakes device on his wrist as she remembered that he teleported to Canterlot when she and him found that heartless in the woods.  
  
“Drake, you could teleport us there with your…sonic man…manip…” she tried hard to remember what he had called it but he just chuckled and thought it was cute.  
  
“Sonic manipulator. And no, that wouldn’t work.” He shot her idea down quite quickly.  
  
“Why?” both Luna and his past self asked, he looked at them like he was put on the spot.  
  
“Well, with all of us travelling at once…I mean, it could get us to Canterlot but…it’d break and that’d be it.” He shrugged and faced them properly.  
  
“So you’re more worried about your device than the fate of Equestria?” Discord butted in just as Luna was about to say something.  
  
“Not the way I wanted it put, it’s always been my backup so once that’s gone I’m on my own.” Drake replied and with his arms crossed, he stared at the three inch wide LCD screen surrounded by a beaten and scratched up light brown leather wrist strap that extended past the screen by a few centimetres either side.  
  
“You’re not alone…” Luna stepped towards him, just her talking made Drake smile.  
  
“That’s right, you may not want to be with me Drake but…I will always want to be with you.” Princess Celestia stepped past Luna and put a large white wing around him, just the thought of her next to him made Drake almost shiver with hatred, maybe once everything was done he could actually get along with her once more.  
  
Luna felt shunned by her sister once more, she didn’t let it show though by merely nodding with her sisters words.  
  
“Thanks.” Drake simply said in a fake tone, Princess Celestia was in no mood to dispute his feelings towards her.  
  
A knock at the front door made everyone’s heart jump, Drake spun around to Discord who had already jumped onto the ceiling and was sitting on it as if everyone else was upside down.  
  
Drake quickly jumped to the side of the door and breathed deeply.  
  
“Who is it?” he asked in a strong and clear voice.  
  
“It’s me, Rarity!” a voice on the other side of the door made Drake relax, he swung it open and greeted Rarity who was using her magic to constantly float a pair of thin wide clothing bags, she was quick to gallop in and didn’t even notice the giant Alicorn pair staring at her. “So sorry I can’t stop sweetie, but I am SWAMPED with orders due to your recent showings around Ponyville.” She handed the clothes to Drake and then walked back out the door.  
  
“Thank you Rarity, I really appreciate this.” Drake told her as she quickly walked out of the library mid thought on her next project he thought.  
  
“What’s that?” Luna asked first before anyone else could.  
  
“I asked Rarity to make both me and my past self some new clothing for this upcoming fight.” He replied and unzipped the two of them but only a few inches then gave a wide smile. “This one’s yours, Drake threw one of the clothing bags to his younger self who caught it with both hands, it was much heavier than he thought it might be.  
  
“Twilight, can I use your bathroom?” Drake quietly asked her while he too looked at the clothing he had been thrown.  
  
“Sure.” She replied and Drake swiftly walked into the bathroom to get changed, locking the door behind him. She turned to the older Drake to ask him if he too was going to get changed when she saw him dart into the kitchen and quickly shut the door behind him. “No no no, you can’t get changed in my kitchen!” she cried after him but he was already in the other room.  
  
“Too late!” he cried back after her and let the door click shut behind him. Twilight Sparkle huffed and noticed the chuckle from her teacher, Princess Celestia.   
  
“Now that’s the side of Drake only I used to see.” Her chuckles died down to a simmer and then stopped fully.   
  
“How so?” Spike asked her.  
  
“He’s arrogant.” She replied in a stern voice.  
  
“I heard that!” both Drakes shouted from their rooms, it was Princess Luna this time who chuckled and Discord even grinned slightly.  
  
The bathroom door clicked open and Drake walked out wearing his new clothes.  
  
“Wow!” Princess Celestia exclaimed at her fiancé’s new attire.   
  
He wore a dazzling white wool trench coat that ran down to his ankles, the cuffs folded back on themselves to show a glimpse of the light blue button down shirt he worse underneath it with the collar button undone on purpose to allow a bit of breathing. The trousers he was given were white jeans made out of lightweight breathable cotton but still had strength to them, the white was toned down a bit so it could be worn without the trench coat and still look very white but the coat gave it more of a standout with it on. A pair of black military thick boots made him stand a few inches taller, easy enough to stand at eye level with Princess Celestia, the laces crossed over each other and were white tipped. Clearly Rarity had used the engagement between Princess Celestia and Drake as inspiration when designing the clothing.  
  
“You actually look decent for a change.” Discord was envious of his long coat but kept it well hidden.  
  
“I look dam amazing!” Drake loved his new clothing but was also still very interested in what his future self would be wearing.  
  
“We both do.” Drake heard his voice from the other side of the room, he turned his head and saw his older self had also gotten changed into his new clothes. “Holy hell…”  
  
“Woa, you look…” Celestia spoke slowly.  
  
“I look powerful.” He firmly said.  
  
He stood before his group of friends in a very dark blue trench coat that was a few inches shorter than his younger self’s one, a plain black button down shirt with a thin dark blue tie tied it together nicely. His trousers were black jeans with deep pockets on both sides, his shoes were navy blue high tops with black laces that diagonally crossed the tongue.  
  
Princess Luna looked at both Drakes and knew instantly who looked better in their clothes.  
  
“You look utterly fantastic!” Luna told her friend and he smiled to her.  
  
“Of course I do, I look like you.” Drake continued to smile at Luna who blushed slightly.  
  
“Enough show and tell, lets fight back!” Discord grew grumpy with the slow movements.  
  
“We still need to figure out a back up…” Drake grew cross with Discord but was cut off before he could talk.  
  
“We WONT need a backup after we beat that fake Celestia.” Discord walked up to Drake who looked at him still with anger.  
  
“And how the hell do you know we will beat her?” Drake snarled at Discord, he didn’t mean to but it was an instant reaction.  
  
“You beat me, now there’s two of you.” He softly replied, Drake looked around the room at his friends.  
  
“You all think so?” he asked them, Twilight Sparkle and Spike nodded in approval, Princess Luna told him he could do it whereas his younger self told him to stop being a wuss and just do it, much to the glare from Princess Luna.  
  
“Let’s do it then.” Drake breathed out and put the coordinates into his device to take them to the entrance of Canterlot Castle, he included everyone in the room by pressing a + symbol on the screen then selecting the names along the side. A triangular warning symbol flashed on his screen along with a short siren indicating him of overload, he hesitantly swiped it away to be ignored and then faced the rest of the group.  
  
“I don’t know where she will be so when we get there, me and Luna will search the north wing, Discord I want you with Twilight and Spike to search the west wing; make sure no one sees you. Celestia, you and my younger self will search the east wing together, if you fine her, take her down but she is MY kill, understand that?” Drake informed everyone who all agreed on that without question. “If the target is not found, we group up after one hour and we hunt together. It must end today.”  
  
All Drake had to do now was press ACTIVATE on the screen and the fight back would begin. He took one deep breath and pressed the LCD touch screen.  
  
The air in the library suddenly became very close, as if everyone could truly feel the air touching them, Twilight felt a vibration through her horn that gave her the feeling of a weak but noticeable headache whereas both Princess Luna and Celestia felt small electric shocks run from their horns down their body and along their wings; making them have an instant reaction to extend their wings to their fullest wingspan.  
  
Drake couldn’t keep his eyes open as the world before him wasn’t spinning as the many other times he had teleported using his device but this time it appeared to be melting around him, his eyes stung and he couldn’t figure out which was more painful; to keep them open or close them.  
  
He screamed in his head over and over again until…  
  
FWAZA!!!!  
  
Drake’s eyes no longer burned and he could open them to see everyone standing around marvelling at the feat the device he had made had done.  
  
“White buildings, light blue sky, fake smiles, yep; this is Canterlot!” Luna cheerily smiled as she looked around at the sights.  
  
Princess Celestia had a determined look on her face and was focused on a massive white and gold castle about two miles north from where they all stood.  
  
They had appeared just on the edge of the town centre, it wouldn’t take long for Princess Celestia and Luna to fly to their castle but it would take both Drakes a while to travel there, including Twilight and Spike. Discord could vanish at will and reappear at Canterlot Castle but he knew doing so would make the humans he was trapped with very angry, Discord had an uncaring attitude towards the whole thing but once everything was over with, he might be able to side with Princess Celestia’s kind side if he showed he was helping and could possibly be allowed to walk free. So for now he had to play along as a God to these Foals. Literally.  
  
“How are we going to approach this?” Twilight Sparkle asked as she reached the side of Future Drake, they stood on the edge of no man’s land theoretically, whatever laid beyond them was impossible to comprehend. Canterlot Castle was the goal but to get in there would be a feat. Or would it?  
  
“Why don’t…why don’t we just barge in?” Celestia’s fiancé, Drake, spoke aloud.  
  
“And risk being slaughtered? I don’t think so.” Future Drake put him down instantly.  
  
“Well hang on a minute, why wouldn’t it work?” he asked himself, “We have BOTH royal pony sisters with us, Twilight Sparkle and Spike, we make Discord shrink down again and just walk in.” he added, thinking it through there was no reason it wouldn’t work, it was their home so why not just walk in?  
  
“That would work.” Luna said to Future Drake, he looked at her to confirm it WAS her that said it.  
  
“And when we find the faux Celestia in the castle we are just going to walk into?” he asked the group.  
  
“The kill is yours, like we agreed.” Discord butted in before Princess Celestia could.  
  
“Then let’s do….ugh…argh…ARGH!” Drake began to panic as he gripped his arm in pain and proceeded to what seemed to be clawing at his arm.  
  
“Drake! What’s wrong?” Luna was the first to offer assistance, her heart nearly burst out of her chest when it looked like he had pulled the skin off his arm and threw it on the floor. “What the hell?” she yelled and jumped back, but upon her eyes actually seeing that it had been his sonic manipulator he had torn off, Drake was clutching his arm with his free hand and held it tightly while he was doubled over in pain.  
  
“Overheat!” Drake seethed, Luna tried to offer assistance and Drake wanted to let her but he had just been burned by an overheating malfunctioning device so small it could fit in his pocket yet easily put any nuclear reactor to shame on his planet. “I bloody told you it could go wrong.” He groaned and very gently released his grip on his arm.  
  
Luna’s eyes widened in shock when she saw the large burn marks scorched into his wrist, two horizontal marks were blistering red and small areas around them were dead white.  
  
“Can you still fight?” Twilight Sparkle was also concerned about her best friend’s safety, Spike was using a stick behind her to push the sparking wrist device away from the group.  
  
“Dam right, I’m not letting something this small stop me now!” Drake would not let this moment slip away, even if he was injured, he pulled the sleeve of his navy blue greatcoat down to cover his burn and he felt ready to carry on.  
  
“I can’t suggest you come with us in your situation.” Discord piped up, “Perhaps Luna should watch over you back in Ponyville.” To which, Drake gave a deep and fake chuckle.  
  
“Bet you’d like that wouldn’t you?” he rhetorically asked and shook his head. “That would never EVER happen!”  
  
Discord smirked and shrugged.  
  
“Let’s get going, before anyone dies.” The Drake standing beside his fiancé said slowly, he wasn’t referring to the inevitable war but guessed his future self wanted to destroy Discord, nothing less.  
  
Princess Luna side stepped next to her sister quickly.  
  
“I told you those two are different.” She told her, Luna wasn’t trying to convince herself now that she liked Drake but the thing was she liked the Drake from the future, not the once her sister was about to marry. She found her sisters fiancé to be quite bland now, she knew practically everything about him whereas this future Drake similar to the Drake she had known longer but spicier and just generally more interesting.  
  
“I just don’t see it.” Celestia told her sister in reply, Luna held back a chuckle as the group began to walk together towards Canterlot castle, she saw it perfectly well as the older Drake held back from the front of the group in order to walk beside Luna whereas younger Drake proceeded to walk with his fiancé; Princess Celestia. Discord was made to walk in front of the group so everyone could watch his every move. And Twilight Sparkle walked side by side with her baby dragon Spike, Drake glanced back at her and she appeared to be a little shy to put it delicately, he hadn’t seen Celestia or Luna as the ROYAL princess sisters in just under three years so he hadn’t noticed straight away that Twilight felt lower than everyone else. He could only imagine being back on earth in a crowded party where every single person is a celebrity and your friend knows them like ordinary people.  
  
The castle came into view after a while, Drake was the first to grow in anger at the sight of his old home, Luna looked to her side to see him subtly clench his fists. She saw her royal guards in their dark blue attire standing to attention at the front gate.  
  
“Your majesties.” They both bowed at the sight of the sisters and both Drakes, the younger Drake quickly looked behind him to tell Discord to hide but he had already known and was nowhere in sight.  
  
“Shut up….” The older Drake muttered, Luna looked at with confusion.  
  
“You ok?” she whispered.  
  
“What? Oh, yea.” He nodded and dug his hands into his pockets only to find something small and warm, he thought it was a mouse to start with but quickly realised it was Discord hiding in his pocket, he fought the temptation to squeeze him till his eyes burst from his skull.  
  
“I’m here, if you need me.” She kindly said to him.  
  
“Thank you.” He replied but she didn’t believe he needed her.  
  
The castle doors swung open by the use of magic from the guards that stood outside allowing everyone to walk into the courtyard, it had changed since Drake had first arrived in Equestria as Discord had ordered it to be blown up but the castle was eventually rebuilt and made ten times better with the architecture thoughts from Drake, a large pool was a jump away from the roof balcony, a games room filled with things like snooker and tennis were just some of the things Drake had asked for and Princess Celestia was interested in these items just as much, Princess Luna had her own room designed by herself as Drake had been drawn to his fiancé to pay attention to the younger Alicorn’s questions about designs.  
  
The courtyard was a large gleaming white square roughly a hundred feet long and wide with the main doors to the castle directly opposite them with stairs that led up to them, two separate arches were on either side of them with a separate rows of hedges in the middle of the courtyard making up a smaller square with gaps in the foliage on each face. The arches led to separate parts of the gardens of Canterlot Castle which allowed guests to visit the shrubberies and statues, Drake had made sure that these were not of imprisoned foes as Princess Celestia had done so, but were merely made from marble and granite.  
  
“Hey, you still got my teleport?” Drake asked his younger self in a rough voice as he examined his old home, he may have been there before to speak to his past self, but this time was different, this time he planned on staying.  
  
“You mean MY roughly made teleport that was only tested once?” he asked his older self, “Yea, still got it.” He pulled the device from his greatcoat pocket and held it in the palm of his hand, it was falling apart and needed thorough work on it.  
  
“Well mines dead, so make sure if you use it; it HAS to work.” Drake blinked hard and returned his attention to Luna. “We’ll all split up now, Luna you’re with me so may I ask you to fly us both up to the top floor, everyone else will start at the bottom.” Princess Luna nodded and smiled to him, Drake returned the smile and then turned to Twilight Sparkle and Spike.  
  
“Twilight, stay safe and use any kind of magic to stay alive.” He told her and she nervously nodded.  
  
“Is this like a test?” she asked him, Drake looked to Celestia who rolled her eyes, Twilight’s life revolved around tests.  
  
“Yea, it is, do your best.” He told her and she grinned widely, she then faced the castle doors to show she was prepared.  
  
All Drake had to do was give a look to Spike and he knew then that Drake was about to tell him to protect her at any cost. Spike nodded and walked to the side of Twilight.  
  
He didn’t need to say anything to his younger self nor Celestia, she had him and he had her, they were safe enough.  
  
“C’mon then, let’s fly!” Princess Luna lowered her body like she was going to pounce but was waiting for Drake to get on her back, her wings outstretched side and she waited.  
  
Drake wasn’t paying attention, a few seconds passed of him just staring at the castle, Luna felt sheepish and returned to her normal stance, she exchanged glances with her older sister and then trotted over to his side.  
  
“Er, Drake?” she poked him with her hoof and he snapped out of his trance.  
  
“Sorry, yea I think so.”   
  
She looked at him with confusion, that wasn’t an answer she was expecting as she didn’t actually ask him anything.  
  
“Look, let’s just fly upstairs.” She told him and he quickly got on her back.  
  
Princess Luna felt the adrenaline rush when her friend got on her back, that voice in her head that told her to fly faster and faster, energy rushed through her body and into her hooves. Like lightning, she bolted off from the ground at an incredible speed, her wings beat powerfully and with each beat she felt her body and Drake launch through the air at faster and faster speeds.  
  
Her eyes narrowed on a balcony on the top floor of the tallest tower, she looped around in mid-air so she could fly directly at it.  
  
“You can slow down Luna!” she heard Drake cry out to her but in just a few seconds she busted open the doors to the balcony and they cartwheeled into the castle, landing in a heap a few feet from each other; Drake had been thrown further than Luna had but was first on his feet.  
  
“Didn’t even need to!” she happily cried out to him, Drake dusted his dark blue greatcoat off and looked at her with a pained look.  
  
“We could have died.”   
  
They both broke out into laughter.  
  
“Never gonna happen!” Luna laughed and walked passed him, Drake unfortunately knew otherwise.  
  
She looked around the room they had burst into, it was storage room for the castle.  
  
When the castle was being rebuilt a lot of stuff had been saved from the ruins of the old castle, now some of the items Drake didn’t approve of but because he didn’t want to impose on his friends and his fiancé, the guards had this room created just to basically store the items neither Celestia or Drake wanted to see.  
  
“I remember these.” Luna was looking a dusty glass cabinet, she wiped the dust away to reveal ceremonial weapons: sabres, daggers, gauntlets and even an old black necklace. The sight of these made her sick.  
  
“I know, I hated them.” Drake looked over at her and saw what she had been looking at, he knew what those weapons were, the dagger had been designed and was going to be used by a cult to murder Princess Luna because they believed she was Nightmare Moon and was tricking Equestria into believing she was Princess Luna. That plot had been foiled by Drake and Shining Armour so quickly that the cult had not even walked out their house to kidnap the princess.  
  
Drake had not been lenient on them.  
  
And that old necklace was made out of the remnants of Nightmare Moon when the elements of Harmony had been used on her, it had been a present to Princess Celestia who did not approve of it.  
  
There were a lot of other items in the storage room they were in but the room itself was very dark, the light from the broken doors coming from the sunlight made the room no brighter but Drake could pick out every single item in there.  
  
“Can…Can we go?” Luna very quietly asked as she passed a tall object obscured by a white drape covering it, she knew what it was but didn’t want to see it.  
  
“Of course Woona.” Drake replied and she quickly exited the room through the doorway at the end of the storage room.  
  
Drake stood still for a bit, he was waiting till he couldn’t hear Luna’s hoof steps anymore, very soon it went silent and he turned to face the same object Luna had been worried by.  
  
Slowly, he reached out with his right hand and gripped the tarpaulin tightly, he pulled it off and saw what was underneath.  
  
Nightmare Moon!  
  
At least, a statue of her, Drake looked upon it with mixed feelings. He should hate her, but he loved Woona too much and this…this was part of her, but nightmare Moon had made life awful for ponies shortly after he arrived in Equestria.  
  
He looked at the hollow eyes that was the face of the statue, he had never truly met Nightmare Moon as Luna had previously proven that she could transform her body into that of the menacing mare, so he didn’t actually know if he met her; would Nightmare Moon hate him?  
  
“But I know who you are.” Drake grinned evilly at the statue and extended his palm directly at it, he focused upon it and then….  
  
WHAUMP!  
  
The statue suddenly shattered into a hundred pieces that rocketed through the air and sailed passed inches from his eyes. He retraced his hand and placed his foot upon one of the small chunks of rock.  
  
“Luna’s mine.” He whispered and stepped on it, shattering it beneath his foot.  
  
“Drake! Are you coming?” he heard Luna’s voice from the corridor and like every time he heard the tones that made up her voice; his heard fluttered.  
  
“Coming Woona!” he smiled and shut the door to the storage room behind him.


	21. Cracking into the Castle

The white walls of a tight corridor in Canterlot Castle made Princess Celestia feel enclosed, her hoof steps echoed throughout the halls while her eyes darted from the multitude of doors on either side of her along the walls.  
  
Every door she came across she knew someone or something could be lurking inside, waiting to pounce upon her. Her magic had not returned to full strength so her fighting back would be near impossible.  
  
She was defenceless.  
  
“Why did we build such long corridors?” her fiancé brushed passed her wing as he complained for the millionth time he had been walking behind her. She flicked her eye sight towards him and felt safer.  
  
“Because having room after room would make the castle unliveable.” She replied but internally groaned at the sight of the corridor before them that seemed to stretch on forever.  
  
“It’s a stupid idea.” Drake groaned aloud rather than hold it in but continued to walk with his fiancé side by side.  
  
“How are you feeling?” Princess Celestia stopped mid walk between two doors on her right, Drake thought she was still walking beside him and it was only until he had swung open a door then saw that she was standing away from him.  
  
“We’re going to talk about feelings now?” Drake walked up to Princess Celestia so they were closer, “Worlds coming to an end and we’re discussing personal issues?”  
  
“We get married tomorrow and shortly after that…” she trailed off.  
  
Drake didn’t respond straight away, he looked down and realised he hadn’t even remembered he was getting married.  
  
“Oh yea, I forgot about that.” He felt awful, it was his wedding, he shouldn’t have forgotten about that at all. In fact in the twelve months leading up to it he had been obsessed with it and now it was a day away…he had forgotten it even existed.  
  
“It shouldn’t have been like this.” Princess Celestia added, she too had forgotten so she couldn’t be angry with her him.  
  
“You want to know how I feel about it?” Drake asked her and shoved his hands into his great coats pockets. “I honestly don’t care about it.”  
  
Princess Celestia looked confused and worried, she honestly believed she knew her fiancé inside and out.  
  
“What…you don’t care?” she whispered.  
  
“It could be tomorrow or a thousand years from now.” He used his hands still in his coat to flick it open as body language. “I love you and that’s all that matters.”  
  
“Right…I thought you didn’t care about…marriage…” she quaked.  
  
“To be honest, it’s just being with you I care about.” Drake tried to dig his hands further into his coat but to no avail. “We shouldn’t be talking about this now Celest’, hell is coming and we need to keep moving.” He told her and silently she agreed with him, walking side by side with him again.   
  
Drake’s shoes hardly made a sound on the marble floor whereas Princess Celestia’s hoof steps made a unique clicking sound that Drake had been able to associate with her, it made sure he knew when she would sneak up behind him he could recognise her instantly before she had even entered the room.  
  
“Do you think it’ll be a big fight?” Princess Celestia asked him, thinking about what could be upcoming.  
  
“Hope not, if we can peacefully avoid it then it would be for the best.” He replied, he didn’t want to fight again, something similar had happened nearly three years ago between him and Discord, it was obvious that he had the breath taking power inside him from the element of magic that he could win but putting his friends in danger was not an option for him today.  
  
“Your future self appears to think otherwise.” She glanced at him when she spoke, Drake had a concerning look on his face.  
  
“That’s what I’ll become one day.” He was worried for certain, his future self seemed more independent than him, more powerful for sure but also more unstable.  
  
“That’s not for certain.” She told him, she was about to place a wing around him but he suddenly stopped walking and stood very still.  
  
“Yes it is, it bloody is for certain Celestia.” he sighed. “Just him being here proves that.”  
  
“He’s here to try and stop you becoming like him.” she persuaded him to think otherwise. Drake weakly chuckled and shook his head.  
  
“No. No he’s not, he’s here to stop whatever war is going to happen, whatever I am to him… its not worth time travelling.” Drake felt like he had been trying to say this for a while but no one was listening.  
  
“And how could you possibly know that?” Princess Celestia retorted. Drake stared at her with disbelief.  
  
“You don’t see me and him as the same person anymore do you?” he coldly asked, Celestia wanted to talk but she faltered. “Think about my past, before I even came here. Do you think I care about that?”   
  
Princess Celestia had been inside Drake’s mind so she knew what his past consisted of. The loneliness, the empty shell he had been for far too long, even the façade he became every day in public. The fake smile he put on even though… even though he had tried to end his life far before its time.  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she didn’t need to explain to Drake what she was implying, the look in her eyes was enough.  
  
“Because I have a new life now, I know if I went back to earth… I’d…”  
  
“Don’t.” Celestia stopped him and looked away from him, not out of disgust, but fear. Fear of what she knew he might do. “What I felt in your mind, no one should go through that alone.” She tried to walk away from him, further up the corridor but Drake had not finished.   
  
“And when you sealed your own sister in the moon, you felt it too?” Drake called out to her, Celestia stopped immediately and Drake feared her retaliation.  
  
“I felt guilt.” She looked at him with tear stung eyes, “I should have done something different, what I did was not out of hatred for the darkness that was my own sister; but out of guilt that I should have helped her.” A single tear fell from her cheek and onto the white marble floor. “I’m scared for you know, what if...” she faltered again, Drake watched her, emotionless.  
  
“What if I can’t help you either?”  
  
Drake didn’t respond to that. How could he?  
  
Princess Celestia suddenly twirled around quickly which made Drake spin around as well to see Discord standing before them both.  
  
“If you two wet sobs have stopped whining, we have an alicorn to find.” Discord pulled out a large magnifying glass from behind his back and began to comically inspect the wall beside him, his eye grew out of the lens and then retracted back again.  
  
“I just want this day to end.” Drake walked past Princess Celestia quickly, she wished she hadn’t opened her mouth to ask him anything. Discord walked by Celestia as well, she had to take a second or two just to swallow the lump in her throat. She wanted to tell herself Drake would be alright, but just seeing Discord walking anywhere near him…it made her angry, furious and protective of her best friend. She felt the impulse to blast that freak into a billion pieces, maybe she’d trap him in the sun so he burned in unthinkable heat for millions of years.  
  
She felt sick to her stomach and just made the same lump in her throat rise up again.  
  
Discord caught up with Drake and dug his talon and paw into make shift pockets in his legs.  
  
“So then, dude.” He teased Drake and nudged him by using his shoulder. “Whatcha gonna do if we find this other fiancé of yours?”   
  
“Keep touching me and you’ll receive it, first hand.” He threatened Discord who removed his talon and paw from his makeshift pockets and held them up.  
  
“Whoa, no need to be hostile, save that for the big finish.” Discord chuckled.  
  
“We find her before the other me gets to her first, then we can decide.” Drake made sure he was standing further away from Discord.   
  
“When you say we…”  
  
“Me and Celestia.” Drake stopped in his tracks and faced Discord. “You have no part in this, don’t think you do.”   
  
“Hell, I just want to make sure I don’t die in this war.” Discord crossed his arms and Drake frowned at him, then continued to walk onwards.  
  
“Don’t get comfy.” Discord heard Princess Celestia snap and then barge past him. “He’s mine, so back off.” She viciously advised him.  
  
“Unlike you, I don’t want him.” Discord growled at her, their eyes locked in ferocity; memories flooded back to both of them of fighting and uncontrollable chaos.  
  
“We both possess the power to turn you back to stone.” Princess Celestia threatened him, much to discord’s amusement.  
  
“Not in your nature to lie, Princess…” he glanced at Drake who was swishing his great coat back and forth like it was the most interesting thing in the world. “Thanks to your fiancé, the only true way you could stop me is in the hands of a madman who hates you just as much as me.” Discord slithered his words into Princess Celestia’s ear.   
  
Princess Celestia looked at Discord with disgust but knew he wasn’t lying.  
  
“Drake, you and I go on ahead.” Princess Celestia re-joined Drake who flicked out of his amusement quickly to walk by his fiancé.  
  
“We’re supposed to walk as a group.” Drake reminded her. “He’s dangerous to leave on his own.” He glanced at Discord to see him grinning.  
  
“He’ll behave himself while we’re gone.” She glared at him, “If perhaps an older human finds him alone, he won’t survive for long.”  
  
Discord’s grin disappeared very quickly once he realised that.  
  
“I’m the dam king of chaos! A human won’t make a difference!” he bellowed at the pair as he watched them walk away. Drake stopped and quickly peered over his shoulder at him.  
  
“I don’t think he’s far from human anymore.” Drake frowned at him and then carried on walking with Princess Celestia in silence.  
  
Discord wanted to retaliate to that but he found he couldn’t bring himself to fight back against it.  
  
  
  
  
  
Twilight Sparkle gawped at the vast white staircase that stood in the main hall of Canterlot castle. She squealed loudly and trotted on the spot with ecstasy.   
  
“It’s just a castle Twilight, jeez, calm down.” Spike walked passed her and jumped up the steps, quickly followed by the unicorn happily smiling.  
  
“But it’s THE castle Spike! This is amazing!” she exclaimed and continued to smile as they both reached the second floor.  
  
“I prefer the library, that’s where my bed is.”   
  
Twilight sighed to herself and carried on walking.  
  
“Can’t you think about something apart from sleeping or eating?” she walked faster than him so she was in front of him now by a few feet.  
  
“Yea, a certain unicorn.” She heard him say in a compassionate tone.  
  
“Rarity doesn’t count as a thought.” She chuckled.  
  
“What, ugh, never mind…” he muttered and Twilight ignored his whining.  
  
“Twilight, can I ask you something?” Spike caught up to his best friend now by running just a little bit faster.  
  
“Of course Spike, what is it?” she replied.  
  
“What happened to that unicorn you were talking with a while ago? Star gazer was his name.” Spike asked his question.  
  
“Oh him? We just didn’t connect, he liked admiring the stars and I…”  
  
“Liked dissecting the beauty of them down to the atomic structure?” Spike finished her sentence.  
  
“Pretty much.” She smiled, “I just never saw a pony and thought they stood out enough in my life.” Twilight explained. “I mean, you were hooked on Rarity pretty much as soon as we saw her, I just never had that.” Twilight casually noted.  
  
“Doesn’t that feel lonely?” he asked her.  
  
“Not at all, I may not have a special somepony but I have six great pony friends, one adorable dragon and spent the last three years talking to a Human. I’m far from lonely.” She told her friend, Twilight had never felt truly lonely in her life, even when she hadn’t moved to Ponyville and met her best pony friends; she had been moving so fast in her studies that she didn’t notice. “Besides, I had you.” Twilight happily smiled to Spike who returned the smile with a little bit more added on.  
  
“Well you’ll always have me Twilight, you know that.” Spike replied like he had told her that a million times. “Is it a little quiet to you?” Spike asked her before Twilight could respond.  
  
They listened carefully but couldn’t hear anything.   
  
“Shouldn’t this place be swarming with guards?” Twilight looked around and realised they had not seen a single guard, even a servant; nopony was here. “This doesn’t feel right.” She bit her bottom lip.  
  
“Oh sure, fake Celestia, future human came back in time, weird creatures running around Equestria but yea; the lack of guards stopping us is a massive problem.” Spike sarcastically spoke.  
  
“Aren’t ponies disappearing?” Twilight found herself worrying, if the guards had gone missing, what was stopping her going missing with the rest of them?  
  
“I’m guessing we find this fake Celestia and we’ll find out!” Spike clenched his claws and acted like he was ready to take on anything. To be truthful though, he was. If somepony was taking ponies from this world then he knew his friends could follow shortly afterwards. But not until his last breath, he swore in his mind.  
  
Creatures have tried before to take his friends away, be it kidnap or to take their lives, but either way Spike had been too young to do anything. Now he was slightly older, a tiny bit more brave and certainly more selfless; Drake had silently told Spike to protect Twilight but he didn’t need telling. Ponies WOULD dare to hurt his friends, but he knew he would have to make a sacrifice to protect them in just over a day.  
  
He was prepared to do that to save those he loved.  
  
“Spike, are you ok?” he felt Twilights voice break through the anger that he had sub consciously built up as he had been thinking to himself. Dragons had always had a violent and brash nature about them, but this…. This was different.  
  
“Yea, of course, you?” he replied to her, shutting her out from his emotions.  
  
“I’m fine, you’ve clenched your fists.” Twilight pointed out what was obvious to him but she had only just noticed.   
  
“Claw cramps.” He tried to hide it by shaking his claws but Twilight didn’t believe him.  
  
“Oh come now Spikey wikey, don’t lie to me.” Twilight chuckled and friendly pushed a little bit more. She knew Spike hated being called that, it made him feel like a baby when he was trying to be grown up about everything, but ponies only saw him as cute rather than mature.  
  
“I’m fine.” He hoped she wouldn’t pressure him anymore than already, just the tiny bit she was putting on him was enough to make him feel uncomfortable about his own emotions.  
  
“Nothing about any of this is fine, Spike. Now tell me.” She didn’t chuckle this time, she squinted her eyes slightly at her dragon friend and knew something was up. This was uncommon for him to act this way.  
  
“Well I am fine.” He snapped at her and she turned to look away from him. “I’m sorry Twilight.” He sighed and apologised. He never liked being hurtful towards his friends, especially Twilight who had done so much for him in her life.  
  
“No, you’re fine.” She coldly whispered to him and walked away, down a large hallway with paintings of knights and royal ponies.  
  
Spike clenched his jaw and swallowed hard, tears stung his eyes and he pressed his lips out.  
  
“Don’t make me talk about something I don’t want to, please.” He begged her.  
  
“I was trying to be helpful.” She replied.   
  
“I know, I know.” He clamped his eyes shut to rid of any tears that built up. “But don’t help me with this.” He asked of her.  
  
“You want me to let you wallow in emotion?” she spun around and snapped at him this time.  
  
“It’ll pass, it always does.” He told her, looking her in the eyes this time.  
  
“When the HELL does this situation happen, to know that it always passes?” she shouted.  
  
“It’s happened enough!” he shouted back, his breathing escalated as he feared what could happen to her again. Last time was just once too many, her life was always being put in danger because of some foes that wanted power, love, chaos or whatever!   
  
“Then you need to tell her, tell Rarity that you care this much about her or whatever the hell you think you’re feeling, because it’s going to ruin you one day.” Twilight turned around and walked briskly away, knowing he’d follow soon enough.  
  
Spike stayed where he stood and clenched his fists again, tighter this time, so tight that he thought for a second he’d break a claw. He let a tear trickle down his cheek and then quickly brushed it off.   
  
Twilight had told him to tell Rarity how he felt, but it wasn’t her.  
  
Rarity treated Spike like a friend, another unicorn treated him like family. He tried to look at anything other than the sight of the deep purple unicorn walking away from him but his eyes kept being drawn back to her like a magnet.  
  
He felt the impulse to shout to her, not at her. To tell her how he felt, not to Rarity. Everything could change in this moment. He prayed for something to tell him that this was what he should do, but there wasn’t a sign. He wanted to tell her, but part of him feared her reaction. It could ruin their friendship and he couldn’t take that chance.  
  
So he bottled it up and hid it inside him, he unclenched his fists and rubbed his eyes to hide the tears.  
  
“I’m coming!” He called after her and ran to catch up with his friend.  
  
Twilight was still upset with him as she glanced at him to make sure he was walking beside her. She could tell he had made an effort to hide any emotion that had over spilled but she could still tell, she could always tell.  
  
“Look, it’s been hard for all of us.” Twilight calmed the shouting in her head that she wanted to pour onto Spike. “And I don’t mean to snap, sometimes I just can’t stop myself.” Twilight knew sometimes she had outbursts that even she hated, she felt it affected how her friends saw her and never wanted to be that kind of mare.  
  
Spike didn’t reply.  
  
Twilight looked at her best friend with worry, had she permanently hurt him? She returned her gaze to look straight ahead and tried to think.  
  
“Twilight?” Spike asked weakly.  
  
“Yes Spike?” she immediately asked in return.  
  
“If Drake hadn’t come to Equestria, I think I’d be happier.”   
  
Twilight was shocked, she thought that the two of them had been best friends but to hear Spike almost wishing against it was upsetting.  
  
“What…why?” she gasped.   
  
“Think about it Twilight, none of this mess would have happened.” Spike wildly waved his claws around, indicating the castle they were standing inside. “You’d be at home right now, reading books and I’d…” he paused.  
  
“Usual, boring stuff?” Twilight put her own words in.  
  
“I LIKE boring, Twilight.” Spike pointed at himself, “Boring meant I wasn’t spending weeks terrified in a boarded up library trying to stay alive!” he sobbed, tears running down his cheeks as he reminisced about those dreadful weeks he had to fight through when Discord was in charge of Equestria. “I’d prefer that over crying over the fear of losing my friends!” he screamed at Twilight. “And…and…and…” his uncontrollable sobbing was interfering with his words now.  
  
“You don’t need to say any more.” Twilight quickly pulled Spike close to her chest and held him tightly. She placed her head on him so she could comfort him.  
  
Spike was somewhat glad she stopped him before he could compose himself to carry on, so now he stood with her and held onto her for dear life; still sobbing into her neck fur. Spike had been in a very bad way long even after Twilight had been rescued and Discord defeated, that kind of traumatic event should have beaten Spike but somehow he came out on top of it; even so it lingered around afterwards.  
  
But it was the constant worry for Twilight that got to him, the fear of what Discord could have be doing to his best friend. He never forgave himself for not even trying to fight back, he would have been killed without mercy but still… in his mind though Twilight was, without a doubt, worth dying for.  
  
“Once this is over, me and you can go back to the library and everything will be back to normal.” Twilight whispered to Spike, still holding him in a warm embrace.  
  
“You think anything will be normal again?” Spike wasn’t hopeful about the situation, his whole world had changed so much around him in the last three years that it was just too hard to think it could just snap back to be normal.  
  
“I have a feeling everything is going to end soon.” Twilight told him in a confident tone and with a smile.


	22. Falling Apart

Princess Luna and Drake were growing cautious of the lack of guards they had not seen within the castle, granted they had started from the top and were working down they were still greatly concerned.  
  
“This is wrong.” Luna was thinking back to when they had entered Canterlot, and even that had been light on ponies. “It’s getting worse.”  
  
“It’s getting closer to the moment.” Drake walked beside Luna and was also looking for any signs of guards.  
  
“Was it this quiet, in your past?” Luna asked Drake, but he seemed distracted, he had a dazed expression on his face and even though he was beside her; it was like she didn’t exist. “Drake?”  
  
She nudged him and Drake slowly regained his composure.  
  
“A bit of Déjà vu.” He shrugged and bit his bottom lip.  
  
“Are you ok? You’ve been a bit…absent minded since we got here.” Luna furrowed her brow and pinched her lips together.  
  
“I’m fine, nervous is all.” He lied and looked away from her to stare out of a window on his left. Luna raised her eyes brows at his suspicious behaviour, something was troubling him and she wanted to help, she couldn’t figure out what it was yet she knew if she asked he would lie to her about it; as was apparent.  
  
“Nervous of what?” she asked, “This possible fight? The war?”   
  
Drake breathed out sharply and chuckled lightly.  
  
“Everything I guess.” He glanced at her and quickly smiled.  
  
“We’re strong together though.” Luna reassured him.  
  
“I know that, I’ve seen what you can do.” Drake replied without smiling this time, Princess Luna knew he wasn’t lying but certainly wasn’t going to tell her the whole story just yet.  
  
“We’ve searched the castle from top to bottom, where could she be?” he quickly changed the subject and gently scraped his finger nails across the wall beside him, Princess Luna watched him do so with a small sense of confusion.  
  
“I don’t know, maybe she isn’t here.” She muttered.  
  
“She is.” Drake replied instantly with a sense of true certainty. “She was here last time, she’ll be here now.”  
  
“Last time?” Luna instinctively asked him. Drake shot her a frustrated glance to which she instantly remembered he had a past other that she hadn’t been in yet. “Oh, yea.”  
  
Drake sighed and shifted his hands into the pockets of his trench coat only to swiftly pull them out and flatten himself against a nearby wall that cornered to the right, hiding whoever was coming around the corner. He grabbed Luna as he flattened himself so she was against the wall too, she didn’t have time to ask what was going on before she saw the shadow projected on the wall in front of them coming from the passageway around the corner.   
  
It was the shadow of what looked like a tall Alicorn.  
  
“Found ya.” Drake growled.  
  
As soon as he saw the white figure emerge, he lunged into the air and tackled the alicorn to the ground, landing in a tremendous scramble of hooves and feet.  
  
“Get off me!” Celestia kicked Drake off her with all her might and sent him smashing into a pane of glass that cracked under the weight of him.  
  
Before Drake could retaliate he found his path was blocked by his younger self.  
  
“Wrong Celestia!” Celestia’s fiancé yelled at his older self, his arms outstretched to stop any further harm to Princess Celestia.  
  
“God dam it!” the older Drake shouted punched the glass pane as soon as he realised his mistake.  
  
“I think you owe me an apology.” Princess Celestia stood up and teased him.  
  
“I don’t owe you shit!” Drake snapped viciously and pointed at his ex fiancé, he turned away and groaned very loudly, covering his face with his hands; followed by a string of cursing.  
  
“What is going on here?” Twilight Sparkle suddenly appeared from the other corner with Spike as the corridor they stood in was in a sharp U shape. She saw her teacher, Princess Celestia, in a state of ruffled fur, tangled mane and wobbly legs. Drake meanwhile was in a different state, dangerously angry.  
  
“Shut…up…” Drake seethed quietly, his eyes flashed towards Twilight but instantly turned away.  
  
“Excuse me?” Twilight was heavily shocked to hear the older Drake telling her to shut up when it had been his younger self that had ignored the photo album she and her friends had made for him that brought her to tears. Whereas she had seen the older Drake as… friendlier, or maybe it was him making up for mistakes?  
  
“Not you.” He snapped again and covered his ears, this time it was impossible to hide that there was something wrong.  
  
“Drake, sweetie, what is it?” Princess Celestia walked towards him, the younger Drake went to warn her but she didn’t need warning.  
  
“Don’t, don’t call me that!” he yelled and had trouble restraining himself from punching her.  
  
“She’s just trying to help.” Princess Luna added in.  
  
“There’s no need to be rude about it.” Spike also dropped his voice in.  
  
“I will never be like you!” the younger Drake attacked him.  
  
Everyone was talking at once, he couldn’t bear it. It was far too much, his brain was overloading and he could feel the anger bubbling, just beneath the surface.  
  
“SHUT UP!”   
  
Colossal amounts of magical energy exploded from Drake with no hesitation, streams of rainbow beams billowed from his skin; scarring the walls and shattered the windows around him. He felt the razor sharp shards dig into his skin, gouge his arms and tear at his face.  
  
He collapsed to the floor immediately on all fours coughing blood and tears rolling down his face; stinging the deep cuts in his face.  
  
He tried hard to look at his friends but he couldn’t even see them through the pouring of blood from his head into his eyes.  
  
“Holy shit…” he heard his past self utter and then the sound of hoof steps beside his head.  
  
“It’s ok…” Twilight Sparkle hushed to him, all she had to walk near him and her horn felt like it was on fire. She instantly rushed backwards in both pain and fear, she looked to her mentor for guidance but Princess Celestia was horrified at just the sight of her future fiancé. “We need to help him!”  
  
Princess Luna couldn’t look anymore and had to turn away, her heart ached and she felt viciously nauseas.  
  
She remembered what Drake had told her about what he could do if the war couldn’t be stopped, he called it a mercy killing, an unimaginable amount of magical energy could cause instant death to everypony in Equestria; sparing them from the horrors of what would arise during the war.  
  
Was this it? Was this him being unable to control it? She wanted to help him, she truly did but she felt she might be responsible for assisting the apocalypse.  
  
She breathed slowly in and then out, Luna came to her senses and realised she needed to help him.  
  
“Just relax…” she knelt down beside him, making sure she kept an eye on the glass around her hoofs as well as the pools of crimson red blood oozing from Drake at an alarming rate.  
  
“Back…off…” he uttered and Luna froze in place.  
  
Drake lifted his hand and shifted his weight onto his other, he placed his hand on the largest wound that he felt on his body, a gash that sat on his stomach. He felt his own blood seep through his fingers.  
  
“It’s a curse…really…” he coughed up more blood but within a second his eyes began to fill with white light, the cuts on his face quickly healed at a rate than would scare any unicorn he knew of. The group watched him stand up, pale but quickly gaining his usual tone of skin as his body corrected itself.   
  
“You’re…” his younger self was wide eyed and slightly worried for his own self.  
  
“Never dying.” The older Drake replied with a flash of a smile, his body healed of all cuts, marks, bruises and sweat, but his clothes were still heavily stained with blood and were sliced up.  
  
“Did you just regenerate?” a bewildered Princess Celestia asked, she looked up and down her ex fiancé at the tremendous amount of blood his clothes retained.  
  
“No, this is, better.” Drake reluctantly removed his dark blue trench coat and dropped it in a heap behind him.  
  
“A better, newer model?” Luna asked and smirked to her sister, she didn’t mean it in a nasty way but everyone suddenly looked at her with disgust; everyone apart from the oldest Drake, he looked quite happy with her words.  
  
“Dam right.” He smiled and pulled at a small tear in his shirt.  
  
“Clearly not as great as you think you are.” His younger self snapped. “You’re still bleeding.”   
  
“Huh?” the older Drake asked and then instinctively touched his nostrils, seeing blood on his fingertips he didn’t seem surprised. “Yea, sometimes happens.”   
  
He wiped the blood away and then wiped his fingers on his trousers, much to the disgust of everypony.   
  
“I’m just so tired of all this.” Drake said after he inspected his blood stained fingers.  
  
Everyone agreed with him.  
  
“Once we find this bitch and ice her, drinks are on me.” The younger Drake said aloud, his older self was looking out of one of the shattered windows.  
  
“Found her.” He growled and took off running down the hall Celestia had walked round. Princess Celestia looked out the same window quickly and saw an exact copy of her pacing through the main hall windows. She gritted her teeth and began to run behind the older Drake who was making fast progress towards the hall.  
  
She was in full gallop now when she realised that her sister, fiancé, Twilight and Spike were close behind. She felt glad that her family were there to back her up, but she was worried for the eldest Drake who darted around corners of lengthy hallways like he was being driven by force, so much so that Celestia was having trouble keeping up with him and nearly lost him at one point. One thing was for certain, he wasn’t slowing down and Princess Celestia knew there would be a death waiting at the end of this.  
  
One of the corridors she round led to the massive wooden doors of the main hall, the left door was slightly ajar.   
  
“Shit…” she cursed to herself and burst into the main hall.  
  
Her heart stopped suddenly when she saw Drake standing in the middle of the hall, his fist clenched tightly. Celestia forced her gaze from him towards where he was looking, it was easy to spot herself standing in front of them.  
  
“Drake, are you…” the faux Celestia asked him but as soon as she saw the real Celestia standing behind him… “Oh crap.” She realised what Drake this was and breathed in slowly, nervously.  
  
“Remember me now? Because I fucking remember you.” he was furious, anger boiled inside him, he had waited too long for this moment.   
  
“Just… let me explain…” the faux Celestia was more scared of him now than nervous.  
  
“Urgh…” Suddenly Drake clutched his head and dropped to one knee.  
  
“Shut up…all of you…” he flinched and both Celestia’s were truly mystified by his sudden pain.  
  
“Are you ok?” they both asked at the same time, looking at each other with uncertainty.  
  
“Drake!” Princess Luna rushed in as soon as she saw her friend on the floor in pain and held him tightly, in an odd change of mood he too held onto her like he would float away if he didn’t.  
  
“What did you do to him?” the younger Drake rushed in, he glared at the faux Celestia and crossed his arms. He saw his older self hunched over and being comforted by Luna, the way she held him and he wrapped his arms tightly around her; it was clear to see that she was comforting him but he was dependent on her. He flicked his gaze back at the faux Celestia but continued to think about who his future will take him to.  
  
“Nothing! I swear, he just collapsed!” the faux Celestia panicked.  
  
The younger Drake walked over quickly to his fiancé and whispered in her ear.  
  
“If he’s out of action, we can find out what’s going on without killing.” Princess Celestia heard him and nodded.  
  
“Sister, take Drake out of here.” She told Princess Luna but the eldest Drake stood his ground and fought to get up in an effort to fight.  
  
“No…NO! If she lives…everyone dies!” he grunted and stood on his wobbly legs.  
  
“Whoops.” Discord suddenly appeared behind Drake, placing a hand on his shoulder was enough to use a knock out spell and cause Drake to faint into his arms. “Fix this mess.” He ordered the group and carried Drake out of the hall, Princess Luna followed him shortly behind. She closed the doors behind her, but not before giving her sister a look of worry.  
  
“I’m not the enemy here.” The faux celestia begged to the real Princess Celestia.  
  
“Who are you?” she asked, Drake looked at her with concern.  
  
“My name is Taglia.” She spoke with a nervous disposition and kept changing her stance. “My species are called the Pathaloms.”   
  
“I’ve never heard of them.” Drake stepped forwards but stopped when he watched Taglia back off instantly out of fear.  
  
“You wouldn’t have, we’re a quiet race but…there was a war and I had to do something!” she chocked. “Everyone was dying and I couldn’t…I couldn’t…” she began to tear up.  
  
“Did this war perhaps include many other species that came through cracks?” Drake asked but he was sure he knew the answer already.  
  
“Yes!” Taglia blurted out, her white wings sprayed out like a peacock. Drake became worried.  
  
“Why do you look like me?” Princess Celestia asked Taglia.  
  
“My species are slow shape shifters.” She explained, “I took this shape to disguise myself…”  
  
“And by doing so you hurt the one I love the most.” Drake growled and stepped closer towards Taglia in anger. Princess Celestia felt quite proud of being engaged to someone who cared about her like that.  
  
“No! Please! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t do that!” Taglia cried out and ran backwards, tripping over her hooves and falling into a heap on the floor. “Your fiancé was sealed away by someone else! I swear! I have never touched her in my life!” she cried out once more.  
  
Drake stopped advancing towards the cowering Alicorn, it felt horrible to intimidate someone who sounded and looked exactly like Celestia, it just wasn’t right.  
  
“Why are you afraid of Drake?” Twilight spoke from behind Princess Celestia, Drake had forgotten she had joined them in the hall, he even had to look at her to make sure she was there.  
  
“I watched him!” she spoke to Twilight and then back to Drake. “I watched you! In my war!”  
  
Drake looked back at Celestia with concern, she too looked worried. He didn’t know what his future self had done in that war but it was something so terrifying that it would make someone have a massive panic attack and not calm down.  
  
“What did he do?” Princess Celestia asked Taglia, the shape shifter eyed her in tiny pin pricks of pupils.   
  
“You don’t know?” she asked the Princess, Celestia shook her head.  
  
“Please, we’re all interested is all.” Drake knelt down so he was eye level with Taglia.  
  
Her erratic breathing slowed down by a fraction.  
  
“You stood upon…mountains of bodies…” tears streamed down her cheeks.  
  
“It’s ok, you’re safe here.” He told Taglia in an effort to comfort her. “My best friend is safe so I’ve nothing to hold against you. I just want to know what I do.”   
  
“You burn…millions of creatures…alive…” Taglia’s lips trembled as she began to reveal Drake’s future, he heard Twilight and Spike both gasp. “I can’t…I’m sorry…” she continued to cry harder.  
  
“Twilight, take Taglia out of here.” Princess Celestia told her student who didn’t argue with her. Drake stood up and aggressively marched towards the hall doors. “And where are you going?” she called to her fiancé.  
  
“Don’t you have a few words to say to this bastard?” he shouted back to her.  
  
“I do, but he is still you!” she shouted back to him and galloped after him.  
  
“He stopped being me a long time ago!”   
  
Drake burst through the massive double doors and with a burning hatred for his own self, but not only for his future self but for his current self. Would he let himself be so weak that he would murder thousands? Standing upon their bodies made into smouldering mountains?  
  
His older self was nowhere to be seen so out of his great coat pocket he pulled out his sonic manipulator and glared at it.  
  
“Where are you, you son of a bitch…” he grimaced at the LCD screen and quickly picked out one of the life signs.  
  
“You found him yet?” Princess Celestia peered over his shoulder.  
  
“Yea, he’s with Luna again in the kitchen.” He stuffed the sonic manipulator in his pocket not worrying if he’d break it and quickly took off down a short corridor and thundered down the spiral staircase that led to the bottom floor.  
  
“You two have gotten very close.” Princess Celestia was close behind him on the stairs.  
  
Drake snapped and turned around on the staircase to face his fiancé.  
  
“HE’S NOT ME!” he shouted at her, “I will never be him!”  
  
There was an air of uncertainty in the air between them. Neither one knew who would act or say something next.   
  
“We stop this war, you won’t be like him…” Princess Celestia was anxious to break the silence.  
  
“That’s not the point Celestia.” Drake gripped the side of the banister. “You saw him heal himself like it was nothing, he’s unstable both magically, physically and mentally, fucking hell he couldn’t even stand last time so whatever the hells going on here, it has to be finished even if I have to kill myself to do it.”   
  
He couldn’t keep calm now, he didn’t know if it was anxiety or anger but his hand was gripping the banister of the stairs very tightly because he was trying to hide it was shaking.  
  
“I…I…am going to kill him…d…don’t stop me….” His humanity was showing.  
  
For nearly three years Drake hadn’t felt scared or worried, not because he could regenerate but he just felt safe here, there had always been his friends by his side when he needed them. Princess Celestia had been a lighthouse to him, making sure he never stayed too long in dark times, just as he did for her. Princess Luna had shown him the beauty in the night sky and the fearsome monsters that lurked inside everyone, that anyone should deserve a second chance. Twilight Sparkle had given him a home when anyone else could have offered a house.  
  
But now… he’d have to confront himself from the future, to stop himself would be a battle in itself. Both of them had an unstoppable will to survive and an obsession to keep their friends safe, even if that meant killing himself to do it.  
  
“He’s still you, this whole thing is ridiculous.” Celestia didn’t want to even think about this.  
  
“Either stop me now, or let me go.” He gave her an ultimatum but couldn’t think of what she might pick.  
  
Princess Celestia furrowed her brow and her lips pinched together.  
  
“I’m coming with you.” She finally replied and with a heavy heart they both ran and galloped down the stairs towards the bottom floor. The staircase curved widely and Drake launched himself over the banister before the last few feet so he could barge straight through the double doors that led from the stairs and into the entrance hall of Canterlot Castle.  
  
“Kitchen…where…” his mind was racing so fast with anxiety and fear that he couldn’t remember where the kitchen was, it hadn’t been so long ago that he was in there at midnight with Princess Luna enjoying cake.  
  
“Left!” Princess Celestia ran past him and he joined pursuit with her quickly finding the white wooden door that sat on the right of the hall, their left, it swung both ways for the staff to enter and exit the kitchen while carrying trays of food and drink.  
  
“Wait a second.” Princess Celestia tried to stop Drake before he burst into the kitchen but like a bull in a china shop there was no stopping him now, he kicked the door open and it slammed against the wall it hung on. “Or not.”  
  
Drake stepped slowly into the kitchen, immediately he saw Luna and him future self on the floor for some reason. Luna was gingerly wiping a splotch of blood from Drake’s face who was slumped against the cupboard door, his arms weakly laying on his legs which were outstretched.  
  
“You look a mess.” Princess Celestia told him.  
  
“Ha…it’s just getting started…” he breathed out.  
  
“Please, I don’t know what to do!” Luna was panicking, she had been cleaning blood off Drake but as soon as Celestia realised the truth about it, she gasped, horrified. His body was deteriorating at an alarming rate which was scaring Luna.  
  
“What’s wrong with you?” Drake walked over to his older self, looking down at him with disgust.  
  
Older Drake gave a weak chuckle and wiped a trail of blood from his nose.  
  
“I can repair my body as you all saw, but at a cost.” He wiped the blood off his hand onto his jeans. “I have all six elements of harmony inside of me, like you have just one.”  
  
“SIX?!” Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna cried out in unison, Drake didn’t seem too fazed by it though.  
  
“And they all have their own consciousness.” He pointed limply to his own skull, “And they’re all shouting in here.” He dropped his hand which smacked against the tiled floor of the kitchen. “My device, you know that thing I wore on my wrist? It kept them silent and now it’s frazzled, they can all scream at me to give in and let them take over my body, using me as their vessel.”   
  
Luna looked horrified, her hoof may as well been permanently glued to her mouth.   
  
“Taglia said you stood upon mountains of bodies, that wasn’t your consciousness then I’m guessing?” Princess Celestia spoke softly this time instead of blurting it out.  
  
“You’d guess right.” He replied and tried his best to pull himself up by using the kitchen cabinet he had been resting against as a forced effort, he had to stop Princess Luna from helping him up. “They take over for a while, and they won’t rip apart my body from the inside.” The way he said it made it sound like he had an amazing deal rather than he was effectively trapped.  
  
“Excuse me…” he softly and calmly stated, he turned around to face the sink, loudly and heavily; he vomited into it twice. Princess Luna’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, Princess Celestia nearly stepped on her fiancé’s foot if Drake had not suddenly jumped to his future self’s side. “Ok, that’s better.” He proclaimed, gasping for breath.  
  
“You need to let us help you.” Princess Celestia had a tone in her voice of panic, both for his health and anypony that would be near him.  
  
“Luna’s tried, nothing’s permanently effective.” Drake wiped vomit from his lips with his sleeve, much to the disgust of his younger self who stood a few feet away. Princess Celestia looked to her sister who were both in confusion. “No, my Luna.” He pointed quickly between himself and her. Both Alicorn’s quickly realised who he meant.  
  
“Well you need something temporary then because you’ve just puked nothing but blood.” The younger Drake told him.  
  
“I got something temporary.” He knew none of them would accept it but all of a sudden he felt a warm, wet feeling coming from his right eye.  
  
“We’ll help you, but you need to do whatever you can to keep yourself alive.” Princess Celestia told him.  
  
“And if it turns bad?” the younger Drake asked before his older self could say anything.  
  
“I don’t care, just fix yourself!” Princess Luna snapped at the older Drake, ignoring the fact it was the younger one who asked.  
  
Drake looked at all three of them carefully, the times before he had been able to set up timers to turn the device on his wrist on and off so the elements of harmony got a chosen time slot to be in control before he could take back his body. But this time he wouldn’t be able to control anything about them.  
  
“Find a way to fix me!” He turned to ask Princess Celestia quickly. “Please!”   
  
Princess Celestia fearfully nodded, Princess Luna raised her eyebrows in shock that her sister was asked to help him rather than Luna was.  
  
Suddenly Drake bent over then fell to all fours with his head hanging low. He was sucking in air through his teeth and an alarming rate; as if he was trying to replenish his entire body of oxygen in one go.   
  
Everypony including Drake stood back in fear, Princess Celestia accidently made her feelings clear as she extended one of her massive white wings to protect her fiancé rather than her sister, Princess Luna knew there was no immediate danger but suddenly felt very alone.  
  
A sigh came out of future Drake’s mouth, he bent his knee and went to stand up with such balance it was hard to realise it was the same body that had just vomited nothing but blood.  
  
“Drake?” Princess Luna asked.  
  
His head turned to face her.  
  
“Ah, feels forever since we’ve spoken.” This was no longer Drake as they had all predicted, but the combined elements of harmony possessing his body. “Bitch.”


	23. Ending the Fraud

“How…dare you….” Princess Luna spluttered, her eyes wide with shock as was everyone else. The elements of harmony made Drake’s body grin widely and then he stretched upwards with both arms.  
  
“First of all, I want to speak to you.” The elements of harmony turned towards Princess Celestia, like a small child she backed away quickly and bumped into the wall behind her. “Celestia, you used me to banish your sister rather than to kill her.” The elements of harmony towered above her, an Alicorn of immense power and nobility was reduced to a quivering small foal. They leant forwards towards her, the recently regenerated joints of Drake’s body creaked under its possession.   
  
“You made the wrong choice.” They whispered into Princess Celestia’s ear, and just to rub salt into wounds, they then turned to look at Princess Luna who had heavy silent tears streaming down her face.  
  
The elements of Harmony straightened upright and turned to walk out the kitchen door, their path was suddenly blocked by Drake, he shoved the Elements of Harmony back with one hand against their chest.   
  
“Stand aside.” The Elements of Harmony spoke in a voice that thundered within everyone.  
  
“There’s a war coming, and you’ve got my body so…” Drake pointed at them.  
  
“So you think I should save you.” The elements of Harmony spoke in a monotone, “You humans are all the same, petty, small, and you think you’re worth saving but you aren’t.”   
  
“I know I’m not worth saving.” Drake replied, he nodded towards Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, “But they are, save my friends and forget me.”   
  
The Elements of Harmony looked at Drake in the eyes and then towards the Alicorn sisters.  
  
“Please, if you were part of the war I’m going to be in, you’ve got power he’s not talking about and that could help everyone.” Drake continued, much to the annoyance of the Elements of harmony.  
  
“You expect that I’m going to help you like it’s our job.” The Elements of Harmony spat at Drake. He pointed two fingers like a gun at Drakes chest. “We gave you a chance.”   
  
Suddenly with tremendous force, Drake was blown backwards though the kitchen door splintering it into thousands of tiny pieces, his body was tossed like a ragdoll against the opposite wall and flopped onto the floor like a wet fish.  
  
“Drake!” Princess Celestia screamed, her voice bounced off the glassware in the kitchen making them sing ever so gently. Princess Luna stood still, watching the Elements of Harmony brush off wood dust from Drake’s possessed body. A rush of anger erupted within her enough to desperately want to go toe to hoof with the Elements of Harmony, they acted so cocky she felt, how they touched Drake’s body, just the thought of not him in front of her made her blood boil.  
  
The Elements of Harmony stepped over the bits of wood chips and out of Princess Luna’s view, she felt nauseous just watching Drake’s body walk away and there was nothing he could do to stop them using his body for whatever they wanted.  
  
Princess Celestia ran past her and to her fiance’s side, she knelt beside him almost scraping her forelegs from skidding across the white marble floor.  
  
Drake murmured something to Princess Celestia but Princess Luna couldn’t hear him clearly, her sister was panicking loudly; her breathing erratic and on the verge of cursing loudly.  
  
Princess Luna furrowed her brow and looked angrily at the direction the Elements of Harmony had walked, they had walked back up the main stairs and Princess Luna just caught the glimpse of their shadow from Drake’s body and then it was gone. She looked down at her sister kneeling beside her fiancé and then back to the empty space of wall above the stairs she lost sight of the Elements of Harmony.  
  
She made her decision and began to gallop up the steps to where she last saw the Elements of Harmony. Out of instinct she looked to the left of the stairs and then darted right to go after them, Princess Luna couldn’t waste any time now as it was mere hours until the war that would bring hell upon everything in creation, the war that would turn her into a blood thirsty rebel, just a few more hours and she’d be….  
  
She couldn’t think about that now.  
  
“Hey!” Princess Luna spotted the tall figure of Drake’s body from a hallway just as she was about to pass it, she skidded to adjust herself and slammed heavily into the hallway wall, her head smacked against it but she tried to shake it off, she HAD to speak to the Elements of Harmony.  
  
“Ugh…you, I need to talk to you.” She coughed, she had been winded but it wouldn’t stop her.  
  
The elements of Harmony sighed loudly and slowly turned around to face Princess Luna, before princess Luna could get even close to the Elements of Harmony they used Drake’s body to click his fingers together.   
  
Princess Luna screamed as parts of the white walls of the corridor they were both in were being manipulated by magic so that two arms made of concrete, plaster and insulation wrapped themselves around her waist, her wings pinned to her sides, she couldn’t move in any direction now as the structure of the castle encased her body.  
  
“So, this is how it’s going to be, huh?” The elements of Harmony sullenly put their hands into their pockets but upon noticing the previous owner had torn up the trench coat it was quickly apparent their hands went straight through, they grimaced at the sight of such disgust and low class to be wearing this monstrosity. The next thing princess Luna saw was that dark blue coat being thrown at her, unable to move she was left with no option but to be a living coat stand with a tattered and heavy with blood trench coat on her head. She immediately screamed when she realised it was her best friends blood now moistening her mane and face. Her shaking made the coat fall into a heap on the floor in front of her.  
  
With wide eyes she stared up at the elements of harmony now just feet before her, she could reach out with her hoof and touch Drake’s body if she could stretch just a few centimetres.  
  
“Two almighty beings at mental war with each other.” The elements of Harmony bent down at the knees and stared into Princess Luna’s eyes and looked into Drakes eyes, there was not a glimmer of life behind those dead, shark like, eyes. “And one of them would be happy being the fuck toy of an average human.”   
  
Princess Luna tried to struggle against her restraints but to no avail.  
  
“Once I get out of here...” she grunted trying to break free. “…I’ll rip you apart.” She scraped her front hooves across the ground like a bull preparing to charge.  
  
“There are no more fun times for you and him, it’s over.” He spoke to her like he couldn’t hear her threats. “No more parties, no Halloween, you know everything about him so there are no more surprises. He became a soul of the damned long ago, you couldn’t save him before and you can’t now, so save yourself and back off before you get killed.”   
  
“The future has to become real, and I know we see each other again so whatever you have to say means nothing to me…” she had hope.  
  
“He was with you because he couldn’t be with your sister, and now he can so…” the elements of harmony straightened upright. “So you’re going to be alone, go into the war alone and die alone.”   
  
And her hope was gone.  
  
“Just like your past, you were alone and just like your future you will stay alone.” The elements of Harmony turned around, confident enough to release Princess Luna with a click of their fingers without her following them.  
  
She didn’t have the energy to do anything but collapse onto the floor and sob. Every part of her hurt but her heart hurt most, her cries echoed through the halls but never reached the Elements of Harmony in Drake’s body as they were long gone. Princess Luna didn’t know what to do anymore.  
  
It felt like forever but she managed to gather the emotional strength to stop crying and pick herself up off the floor even though all she felt like doing was dying. Princess Luna was able to push herself to face her sister and Drake again. Walking through the corridors and retracing her steps back to the main hallway should have been easy but she took a wrong turn every time with her mind being a jumble of thoughts. Sometimes she felt like she feeling a bit better but then out of nowhere she would suddenly start crying all over again.  
  
As luck would have it, she walked into the main hallway crying in front of Drake and her sister. Princess Celestia was tending to Drake’s injuries, a few scrapes and bruises, nothing major but just seeing him was enough for Princess Luna to start blubbering.   
  
“Sister, what’s wrong?” Princess Celestia quickly galloped to her sister’s side and hugged her tightly. Princess Luna dug her face into her sister’s mane, allowing herself to let it all out; partially screaming. Princess Celestia could make out few words between sobs.  
  
“I don’t…want to…die alone!” Princess Luna cried heavily and didn’t care anymore if anypony saw her.  
  
“You won’t, its ok.” Princess Celestia shot a glance at her fiancé for him to comfort Luna. Drake hurried over to them and found Princess Luna latching onto him next, her wings almost crushing him in a vice like hug. “What did the Elements of Harmony do?”  
  
“I hate those fucking gems!” was all Princess Luna could express at the time.  
  
“It’s alright Luna, we hate them too.” Drake hugged her lightly, worried anything could set her off.  
  
Suddenly the light in the hallway grew very dark, the sunlight coming through the large stained glass window above the main staircase became dark clouds in a matter of seconds.  
  
“What’s going on?” Princess Luna looked out the window from her position against Drake’s chest.  
  
“It’s started.” A voice came from the left staircase above them, all three looked up to see the faux Celestia descending the stairs at a fast pace. “The first stage of the war, the walls of this world are colliding with others and soon that world will be at war with this one.”   
  
“Taglia! We want the same thing here, how do we stop this war?” Princess Celestia called up to her, seeing a battered and ruffled mane of herself was disturbing in itself without everything else that was going on.  
  
Princess Luna glared at Taglia, raged boiled inside her and her eyes narrowed into a point at her sister’s copycat. Princess Luna wanted nothing but for everything to be over and done with, for this war to stop, for her feelings of Drake to go away so she couldn’t feel pain like this again, and it was all Taglia’s fault!  
  
“I have a plan, we…”  
  
Princess Luna burst free from her and Drake’s hug, sending him flying sideways as she powered up her magic with all that rage inside her, she felt her Alicorn magic force itself through her veins and into her horn. In an arc, she sliced through the air with such forceful magic that it forced her backwards a foot, erupting from her horn and slicing across Taglia’s throat, blood thrust itself from Taglia and across the room and she fell with a sickening thud like a sack of potatoes onto the cold marble floor, her crimson red blood spoiled the gleaming white floor.  
  
“NO!” Drake screamed, he rushed to Taglia’s body, he skidded across the ground and put his hands across the massive gash in her throat. Trying to stop any more blood loss, he instinctively put his bare hands onto the wound without any means to halt the blood loss, he quickly pulled his hands away to realise what he’d done.  
  
Drake hastily threw off his white trench coat and used it as a very thick gauze pad, it went from dazzling white just like Princess Celestia to a sickening crimson red as it soaked up the unthinkable amount of blood pouring from Taglia’s throat. She was gasping for breath as she laid very still upon the marble floor.  
  
“…the war…” Taglia breathed out in a very shaky voice, due to blood loss she was going into shock.  
  
“Don’t talk, save your strength.” Drake ushered to her, he turned, panic stricken to his fiancé “Help me!” he cried out to her, Princess Celestia trotted quickly over to her doppelganger but knew she couldn’t save her.  
  
“I’m sorry.” She knelt down next to Taglia, watching her fiancé trying to hold off an impending death for somepony who had tricked him for months.  
  
“I’m not giving up.” Drake wrapped his trench coat around Taglia’s throat and tried to shake her to stay awake.  
  
“How do we stop the war? What was your plan?” Princess Celestia asked in a very calm and soft tone.  
  
Taglia didn’t respond.  
  
“What can stop this war?” Princess Celestia asked again.  
  
Taglia, again, didn’t respond. And Drake released pressure on her neck, his arms fell to his sides and he sighed out of defeat. He cursed and pressed on his knees to stand up, Princess Celestia looked up to see Drake’s shins and knees soaked in Taglia’s blood.  
  
“I loved her, thinking she was you.” Princess Celestia saw Drake looking at her now. “But I still loved her.”   
  
Now Drake viciously glared straight forward, with his head tilted down still, towards Princess Luna; she saw the hatred in his eyes and felt like she was about to die.  
  
“Why? Just why?” Drake muttered to her, advancing on her slowly.  
  
“Because she’s the cause of all this!” Princess Luna shouted and pointed her hoof at Taglia’s corpse.  
  
“She was trying to help!” Drake spat at her, Princess Luna fell silent. “She may have been able to save us, I’ll make sure everypony knows that while they burn alive by my people’s nukes.” He turned around and crossed his arms.  
  
“I didn’t…” Princess Luna began to tear up.  
  
“That was your cue to leave.” Drake growled.  
  
“Sister?” Princess Luna wanted her sister to tell her to stay, to say it would be fine, to tell her fiancé to stop.  
  
Princess Celestia couldn’t even bare to look at her sister.  
  
“Send a report to the troops, we’ve got our backs to the wall from here on out.” Drake spoke softly to Princess Celestia.  
  
Princess Luna couldn’t be around them anymore, she couldn’t believe what she had just done.   
  
She galloped out of that room and through the front doors of the castle and into the streets of Canterlot, tears streamed down her face as her hooves clattered against the cobblestone pavement. Ponies had gathered in the streets now to witness a fearful black sky above their beautifully polished city, the sun was completely hidden now and it made the clouds all blend together. Lightning was jumping from section of clouds to other parts, the thunderous roar shook the windows of the city and terrified the residents.  
  
For once ponies weren’t suddenly fixated upon Princess Luna and she didn’t hear people calling her Nightmare Moon behind her back when ponies thought she couldn’t hear them, but the end of the world was not something she wanted to replace that.  
  
“Princess Luna, what’s going on?” a small foal asked her from below.  
  
She looked down to see a frightened filly looking up to her with terrified eyes.  
  
“I caused this.” She solemnly told the filly. “I’m so sorry.”


	24. Bounty Hunter Discord

On the edge of Canterlot city sat a small bar called the Horse Trap, just a few minutes ago it had been where a light brown colt, named Gilded Sugar, was admiring the beautiful sunshine and cloudless sky when everything became suddenly pitch black. Swirling black vortexes of storm clouds now filled the sky; sealing away the light from the sun and imprisoning the citizens of Canterlot in a dense black bubble of fear. Gilded Sugar was a unicorn with light brown fur and an even lighter shade of brown for a mane and tail that was neat and professional, his cutie mark of a whisky tumbler and stirrer sat proud on his flank.  
  
Gilded Sugar slowly stepped out from behind his bar and towards the nearest window to peer outside, his hooves tapped against the hard wood floor and echoed throughout the empty bar.  
  
“Oh my, what is going on?” he spoke to himself in a hushed voice, his eyes darted about the sky and the citizens below.  
  
The chiming of a bell that signalled somepony had entered his bar made him jump, he opened his mouth to ask the incomer if they knew about the situation outside but once he saw who had walked in; he was left standing with his mouth gaping.  
  
“Oh my, your highness!” Gilded Sugar bowed deeply once he laid eyes upon his latest visitor.   
  
In the doorway with his hand holding open the door still, stood a human in tattered navy blue clothes, his eyes heavy and his free hand unbuttoning the first few buttons on his black shirt.   
  
“You don’t have to call me that.” He strode into the bar and let the door slowly shut behind himself. “Do you have anything to drink?” he asked Gilded Sugar as he spotted the assortment of liquors and spirits behind the bar, neatly standing proud on a fine wooden shelf. “Really rough day.”  
  
“Oh only the best would do for someone of your calibre sir!” Gilded Sugar quickly trotted behind the bar once more and using his magic he lifted up a circular bottle filled with a very expensive light brown liquid. He watched his guest before him casually eyeing the storm clouds through the window. “If I may ask, your royal highness, do you know what’s going on with the weather?”   
  
Gilded Sugar whisked out a tumbler and levitated it gently onto the bar then began to pour the liquid into it from the bottle.  
  
“Just…nothing to fret over.” He replied and held the tumbler in both his hands, gripping it lightly and staring at the liquid as it gently sloshed around. He glanced up and saw the bartender was not trusting his words just with his facial expression. Gilded Sugar’s eyes kept darting towards the window and then back to his guest. “Guess you know who I am then?” he asked with an eye brow raised.  
  
“Yes sir, yes I do.” Gilded Sugar replied quickly. “Future prince of Equestria, fiancé to Princess Celestia. Everypony around here knows who you are.” Gilded Sugar gleamed.   
  
“Just call me Drake.” he smiled to the bartender. “And you are?”   
  
“My name is Gilded Sugar, sir.” Gilded Sugar told him, “I mean, my name is Gilded Sugar, Drake.”   
  
“Nice to meet you, Gilded Sugar.” Drake extended his hand out to Gilded Sugar and shook his hoof. Drake took a sip of the drink he was playing with, it burned his throat with a welcoming heat that soothed his being.   
  
“Wish I could do more to help but…” Drake ran his thumbs across the rim of the tumbler.  
  
“I was wondering why you weren’t at the castle.” Gilded Sugar said, he watched Drake twitch a nervous smile.  
  
“You ever get a bad case of split personality?” he asked Gilded Sugar with a tilt of his head.  
  
“Well…sometimes I’ll regret my actions a few hours later…” Gilded Sugar was confused by Drake’s questioning. Drake responded by shaking his head.  
  
“No, this…this is something I can never forgive myself for.” He ran his thumb across the rim of the tumbler. “I can’t go back from this.”   
  
“My father always said, always be nice.” Gilded Sugar softly said.  
  
“Was there anything else he said or…?” Drake asked.  
  
“He was a stallion of few words.” He replied.  
  
Drake coughed out a small laugh.  
  
Behind him, Drake heard a jingle as the door opened behind him and somepony stepped inside.  
  
“Oh…oh my Celestia…” Drake watched with one eye brow raised as Gilded Sugar backed away and into the back wall full of glasses and bottles, his shunt caused a few glasses to shake loose of their holdings and shatter on the floor with Gilded Sugar stepping on the shards without realising out of fear. “Please no!”  
  
“Relax, I’m not here for you.” Drake listened to the new voice behind him.  
  
“Discord…” Drake chuckled and spun on the seat to face the mix of creatures now standing before him. Discord was standing in the doorway of the bar, his claw holding the door open while his yellow eyes burned into Drakes head.  
  
“What the hell are you doing here?” Discord growled.  
  
“I wanted some whisky. Before I left Earth, I always loved the taste of it, the burn down my throat and the warmth it brought with it.” Drake picked up his tumbler and sloshed the liquid around inside gently. “Equestria is going to hell and I’m indulging good memories, so bite me.”   
  
“So, you’re actually you now? Not being possessed?” Discord let the door shut behind him and strode slowly towards Drake.   
  
“What can I tell you?” he drunk the last of his whisky and set the tumbler down again. “They got tired and let me take over.” He shrugged.  
  
“Well at least that’s good news.” Discord kept an eye on Gilded Sugar who was now cowering behind the bar, he still remembered what Discord had done years ago.  
  
“How come?” Drake asked with one eyebrow raised.  
  
“Those elements of harmony seemed like dicks to me, so glad I don’t have to bother putting them down…”  
  
“Like you could stop us, you pathetic inbred false god!”   
  
Discord crossed his arms and smirked at the beings imitating Drake.  
  
“Millions of years without uttering a word, the temptation was clearly too much for you to hold it in.” Discord said.  
  
“Can you blame me?” the elements of Harmony replied.  
  
Gilded Sugar had only just realised the pain spiking in his hooves from the broken glass he had stepped backwards onto.  
  
“…uh…” Gilded Sugar let out a small whimper but enough for the Elements of Harmony to hear.  
  
With a quick click of their fingers Gilded Sugar’s neck snapped and his body fell to the floor with a thud, his face fell into the glass shards and pierced his eyes.  
  
“Why did you kill him?!” Discord exploded.  
  
The elements of harmony shrugged, Discord felt sick.  
  
“You’re coming back to the castle and giving that meat suit back to its owner.” Discord grabbed hold of the elements of harmony’s arm and went to drag them but his lion paw was met with an instant white hot burning sensation that caused him to yell in pain and let go.  
  
“I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.” The elements of Harmony chuckled and readjusted their shirt. “Now how about this instead, you run on back to that bitch of a princess with your tail between your legs and you can all cry together while the universe ends.”   
  
“Which one you talking about?” Discord asked.  
  
“Luna.” The Elements of Harmony spat.  
  
“Why do you act this way? I thought you were supposed to be… harmonious?” Discord now took a step backwards, mentally preparing a battle strategy.   
  
“I was, there was a time I would end a war with words not blood.” They told Discord, “But now…” they reached behind the bar and, ignoring the body of Gilded Sugar, picked up a large square bottle of amber whisky; pour some into the tumbler beside them. “I’d rather start the next nuclear war.” They chuckled and sipped some of the whisky.  
  
“You don’t want me as your enemy, you need to stop this war…” Discord gestured to them with his lion paw.  
  
“I don’t need to fuck all, my job now is to watch this world burn.” The Elements of Harmony leaned against the bar with a far too relaxed expression even for Discords tastes.  
  
With a swift flick of his claw and in a split second, Discord conjured up a powerful green ball of radiation and threw it like a curveball at the Elements of Harmony, it struck Drakes body with such force it blasted them through the wooden bar and into the wall of glasses and bottles behind it. Dust and wood splinters were thrown everywhere, a few of them grazed Discord arms as they flew past him.  
  
“Like I said, you’re coming with me.” Discord said once more.


	25. Interrogating Harmony

“Back here again…” Drake growled, he was now standing behind the one way glass of the interrogation room down in the depths of Canterlot Castle; watching Discord strap down the Elements of Harmony into a metal chair in the small chamber. Princess Celestia stood beside him, her eyebrows furrowed at the sight.  
  
“At least not with an imposter.” Princess Celestia added.  
  
“Yea, there’s that which is always nice.” Drake calmly said and glanced at his fiancé, “Hey, if this gets a bit much for you; I need you to let me know.” He told her.  
  
“I’m not going to abandon you, if that’s what you’re asking.” It was almost like she was scolding him for thinking that.  
  
“I’m just saying… don’t put me before ponies you’ve known longer.” He said, she knew who he was talking about.  
  
“Do you think I reacted badly to Luna?” she asked him.  
  
“I was wondering the same thing.” Drake said, “She’s very vulnerable right now and…” he swallowed and tried to think straight.  
  
“She did kill a pony, may have been a shape shifter but still…she did take a life.” Princess Celestia scratched at the floor with her hoof, her golden hoof protectors looked faded and dull now after everything she had been through.  
  
Discord walked out of the interrogation room and slammed the metal door behind him, he huffed and flexed his lion arm.  
  
“Fucking annoyance.” He glared at the Elements of Harmony sitting in the interrogation room.  
  
“Why didn’t he kill you?” Drake quietly asked, Discord raised an eye brow at him.  
  
“Oh thanks, why don’t you say how you truly feel?” Discord asked sarcastically.  
  
“You know what I mean.” Drake replied, “Two creatures in one vessel and both loathe you, plenty of opportunity to kill you so why didn’t they?”   
  
Drake still found it weird to look at himself from the future, even though it was another conciseness possessing him.  
  
“No idea.” Discord said.  
  
“Look, we need to figure out what they know.” Princess Celestia pointed her hoof at the Elements of Harmony before her. “We stop this war first then we work on everything else that getting fucked up!” Drake chuckled and Discord faked gasped. “What?”  
  
“Nothing, it’s just…I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before.” He replied.  
  
“If we survive you’ll hear a lot more than that.” She winked.  
  
“Huh…oh…” Discord understood it a second later.  
  
“Yea you can scream and swear at me all you want over this.” He promised her.  
  
“This isn’t your fault.” Princess Celestia nudged him.  
  
“It isn’t? That’s a first.” He chuckled.  
  
“Please stop flirting, the worlds dying.” Discord butted in and slapped the back of Drakes head. “Tia, you…”  
  
“NO!” Both Princess Celestia and Drake shouted at him.  
  
“What?” he beckoned.  
  
“You know what you did.” Drake said in a low voice.  
  
“Anyway….you’ve got enough magic to move the sun and moon across the sky, can’t you stop this war?” discord asked her.  
  
“And just how would I stop it?” she sarcastically asked him.  
  
Before Discord could argue anymore with Princess Celestia, Drake had slipped between the two of them and into the interrogation room; slamming the door he wedged it shut with the other metal chair.  
  
“Sorry guys, but this is personal stuff.” He said to them from behind the one way glass, he couldn’t see them but guessed they weren’t happy by the sound of banging from the metal door. He turned around to face the Elements of Harmony who were staring him in the eye, unblinking, unnerving.   
  
From the opposite side of the one way glass, Princess Celestia was trying to use her magic to open the door but nothing would touch it.  
  
“Drake! Open this door now!” she screamed, even attempting to buck open the door but not being used to it, she toppled over on her front.  
  
“You know magic won’t work, so why bother?” Discord calmly asked, leaning against the wall, he wouldn’t even try.  
  
“Because he’s unstable and suicidal, he won’t take into account what the Elements of Harmony will do to him!” she screamed at Discord and tried to blast open the door with a powerful magical shot but instead she was thrown backwards against the opposite wall.   
  
Drake walked towards the Elements of Harmony and cracked his knuckles.  
  
“You dare call my sister in law a bitch?” he was fighting the temptation to lash out at them.  
  
“Yea, I did, hope that’s not a problem?” the Elements of Harmony injected Drake with rage with just their words.  
  
Whack!  
  
Drake landed a firm punch to the side of his future body.  
  
“Ooh, did I hit a nerve?” the Elements of Harmony laughed, “Did that bitch teach you to punch? Or was it the other one…”  
  
WHACK!  
  
Drake brought down another two punches in a demented manner, he was ravenous to inflict tremendous amounts of pain to the Elements of Harmony but none seemed to phase them.  
  
“Do you take contentment in attempting to hurt us? Or is it you want to hurt your future self?” they chuckled again. They glanced at the metal door in the darkness being hammered at but making no progress. “Clever, magical guarded door spell…” the elements of harmony spat blood onto the floor between Drakes feet. “Only you can open it, since a human is the only creature in this world capable of pure hatred.”   
  
“How do we stop this war?” Drake had to restrain himself from punching the Elements of Harmony again.  
  
“No idea.” They chuckled, “I’d rather let it happen again, to be honest.”   
  
“And I’d rather you get out of my body.” Drake hissed.  
  
He spun around and side kicked the Elements of Harmony right in the chest, sending them cascading backwards and squirming on the hard concreate floor, Drake knelt above them and began to rapidly punch them over and over again until his arm was weak and blood poured from his future body. The banging on the metal door behind him should have been ear splitting as now both Alicorn and Discord were smashing against the side of it trying to get in and stop him, but Drake couldn’t hear anything apart from the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.  
  
“If I lose my friends….because of you…” Drake struggled to catch his breath, “I’m going to hand you over to my people…”   
  
“You what?” The Elements of Harmony coughed up a splotch of blood which trickled down their cheek.  
  
“You heard me…humans…I’m going to guess they were there…at the war…you’ve seen them…” he gasped, he watched the Elements of Harmony smile turn slowly into a glimpse of fear.   
  
“You have no idea what the war does to them though.” The Elements of Harmony returned to their act of uncaring what happens, “They’ll come after you and everypony else.”   
  
“I don’t care.” Drake had visions of his friends flash before his eyes, “If you make me lose them, I don’t care what happens to me.” His voice was cold and unnatural.  
  
“But all humans have a strong will to survive…”  
  
“Not this one.” Drake stood up from his kneeling position and lifted the Elements of Harmony up, he turned around and made his way towards the metal door.  
  
“Hang on!” the Elements of Harmony called out to him, Drake slowed his pace but didn’t stop.  
  
“Alicorn’s have personal laws. Ones they decree upon themselves when they take up royalty.”   
  
Drake stopped and turned around, he was intrigued now because instead of solid banging, he could hear Princess Celestia shouting for him not to listen.  
  
“If they give up their crown they can break those rules. It’ll ruin their soul but they’ll possess unimaginable power.”   
  
Drake raised an eyebrow and stepped forwards.  
  
“Are you…giving me hints?”  
  
“Find an Alicorn who’s about to go psycho.” They told him.  
  
“Why do you hate her?” Drake asked them, one hand on the chair wedging the door shut to move it away when he wanted. The Elements of Harmony stared up at him with unblinking eyes, blood beginning to form in their eye lids and trickling down their face.  
  
“She…made me like this…” they growled, “We should want to save everypony…but we don’t fucking care anymore…” they spat out some more blood onto the floor. “She ruined us…”  
  
Drake snatched the chair away from the door and flung it open to see Discord and Princess Celestia before him, Discord snatched him by his shirt and slammed him against the wall beside the doorway; like a concerned mother Princess Celestia was angry with his actions because he made her worry.  
  
“What the fuck were you thinking?” she shouted at him, “If it hadn’t crossed your mind, you could have died!” he felt like she was towering above him even though she was only a few inches taller.  
  
“I knew you’d do something as reckless as that! It was only a matter of time!” Discord crossed his arms, Drake was expecting one of his mocking laughs at the end but it didn’t arrive.  
  
“We have to find Princess Luna, I think she could help us!” Drake tried to speak over the top of the both of them but that wasn’t happening.  
  
“Do you know what could have happened in there?” Princess Celestia carried on. “You had no regard for your own life!”  
  
“I can regenerate…”  
  
“Those fuckin creatures in there have enough power to stop that from happening!” Discord was now the one to shout. “Did you ever consider that?”  
  
“And how do you know that?” Drake questioned him.  
  
“I just do, is that alright?” Discord sarcastically asked aggressively.  
  
“There may not even have been a wedding, had anything happen to you!” Princess Celestia shouted again.   
  
“Do you not care what we went through out here?” Discord was frustrated Drake didn’t think.  
“Why the hell do you care about me!?” Drake screamed at Discord. “You’re the one who brought me here! All of this is pretty much your fault!”  
  
Discord was about to shout back but stopped half breath.  
  
“What do you mean I brought you here?” he changed his attitude instantly and asked him in a calm manner now.  
  
“Don’t start lying now, all of this is you!” Drake kept shouting.  
  
“Stop. I didn’t bring you here, I don’t have that kind of magic.” Discord stated, “I always thought it was you.”   
  
“Don’t lie to me.” Drake sneered.  
  
“I’m a god of chaos, not a fucking liar.” He crossed his arms in frustration.  
  
“Wha… you told me you brought me here…”  
  
“No I didn’t.” Discord chuckled, “I never said anything of the sort.”  
  
“Great.” Drake muttered. “Another fucking thing to think about.”  
  
“Forget that, what are we going to do about this war?” Princess Celestia changed the subject.  
  
“Go find Luna! You fucking idiots!” The Elements of Harmony shouted from the interrogation room.  
  
“Oh yea, we need to get Princess Luna.” Drake exclaimed and took off running up the stairs at the end of the concrete corridor, “And by the way sweetie…” he turned to face Princess Celestia on the stairs, “Personal laws?”   
  
“Th…they weren’t im…important…” she stammered nervously.  
  
“Hang on, what about the Elements of Harmony? Are we just going to leave them in your body?” Discord called from the doorway of the interrogation room.  
  
“Yea!” Drake shouted back, Discord groaned and reluctantly took off running after them.  
  
“Can’t we just piss of this Alicorn here?” Discord asked and nudged Princess Celestia in one of her wings.  
  
“Leave her alone.” he told Discord, “Luna’s fragile as it is, there’s no telling what she could do.”   
  
They reached the top of the stairs and burst through the wooden doors to the main hallway of Canterlot Castle only to find a beaten and bloody Drake in front of them, The Elements of Harmony!  
  
“Sorry guys, but I want to find her too.” And with a snap of their fingers, gone in waft of thin air.  
  
“FUCK NO!” Drake screamed and ran his fingers through his hair. “They’ll kill her!”


	26. Treasure Hunt

“P…please…I don’t know what you’re talking about!” came the whimpering voice from a terrified stallion, tied up and beaten by a human figure standing two feet above him, his eyes scorched the light blue furred skin of the stallion.  
  
“We’ve been through this before, you’re the royal curator of rare stone and metal.” The human spoke in an eerily calm tone. “So you know what I’m asking about.”  
  
“It doesn’t exist, it’s a myth!” he pleaded with the human figure to see to reason.  
  
“I know it exists, I’ve used it before and now I need it again.” The human got within an inch on the stallions muzzle as he spoke softly.  
  
“P…p…please…” The stallion tried to wriggle away from how close the human got to him.  
  
With a heavy sigh, the human stood up straight and strode over to a work bench containing metal rods, hammers and tongs.  
  
“Clearly we’re not getting anywhere with asking nicely so now…” the human picked up the metal rod and the end in one hand and the tip with his index finger and thumb. “We’re going to have to try something else.”  
  
“You said you used this metal before! Can’t you remember where you got it?” the stallion panicked.  
  
“This was thousands of years ago.” The human replied.  
  
“You don’t need to do anything rash, Drake….” The stallion’s eyes were fixed upon the tip of the metal rod the human was holding.  
  
“Oh I’m not Drake, but I guess you kind of knew that already.” The human responded quickly, almost like it was an insult. “I am the Elements of Harmony.”  
  
The eyes of the stallion widened to their full extent and then some, he tried desperately to wrestle free of his bindings but to no avail.  
  
“And I NEED that metal.” The tip of the metal rod the Elements of Harmony were holding quickly brightened into a white hot glow.  
  
“Please! It doesn’t exist!” the stallion screamed at the top of his voice till his throat ached.  
  
“So you keep saying.” The Elements of Harmony walked slowly towards the stallion, “One last chance.” The Elements of Harmony held the burning tip of the metal rod close to the stallion’s chest. The heat singed his fur and made him panic.  
  
“Other side of Equestria is a museum! Full of metals! It’s my main export for sales! I might have spotted something like what you’re looking for!” the stallion screamed.  
  
“Other side of Equestria is a pretty big place, do you want to help me out or…” the Elements of Harmony gave the metal rod they were holding a wiggle.  
  
“Manehatten!” the stallion screamed again.  
  
“Thank you.” The Elements of Harmony sounded grateful but their way of asking was far from pleasant. They used the tip of the metal rod to burn one of the ropes binding the stallion and free him. With a click of their fingers, they disappeared instantly and the metal rod loudly clanged to the floor in a short flurry of sparks.  
  
  
  
As if nothing more than a blink to them, the Elements of Harmony were standing in the centre of Manehatten. Hundreds of ponies of all types and colours were walking and bustling about the city, tall white skyscrapers towered overhead, the sounds of thunder clapped overhead with no signs of rainclouds.  
  
“Getting there…” The Elements of Harmony muttered and glanced around, trying to search for any signs of a museum. “Excuse me, do you know where…” he called out to a taxi stallion.  
  
“Get stuffed, ya royal highness!” the taxi stallion yelled back.   
  
“Wow, rude.” The Elements of Harmony walked forwards towards a shop window after spotting their reflection. “What did Luna see in this human?” they wondered, inspecting their facial features, the black matted hair and blue eyes. “Nothing special…”   
  
“GIVE ME BACK MY BODY!”   
  
The Elements of Harmony flinched and jumped backwards as their reflection suddenly screamed at them with such ferocity that it actually scared them a bit. They spun around and examined any reactions the ponies around them displayed but nothing out of the ordinary, they all carried on walking and trotting to wherever they needed to go.  
  
“Try that again.” The Elements of Harmony spun back to their reflection and growled, trying to tempt a reaction didn’t work this time, all it accomplished was many strange looks from ponies around them.  
  
“That’s who our princess is marrying?” “What a nutter.” “If he’s royalty why are all his clothes torn?”  
  
“You can all shut up.” The Elements of Harmony muttered to themselves and left the sight of their reflection to keep looking for this museum. They strode across the road at an angle and glancing in all directions for any signs for this place. “Where are you…” they whispered to themselves.  
  
Out of the corner of their eye they spotted a tall building with aged grey pillars to the entrance and large open black double doors, long red banners hang from the roof till they were about ten feet off the floor and decorated with pictures of jewels, bones and other rare artefacts.   
  
“Found you.”   
  
They ran up the dozen steps to the entrance, missing out the second step in between and nearly tripped on the last but kept their balance at the last second without landing flat on their face.  
  
“That body doesn’t fit you.”   
  
“What?!” the Elements of Harmony snapped loudly and spun around again, this time catching their reflection in the window panes of the doors to the museum. This reflection of their face though was giving a different facial expression than the one they were giving off. This face was smirking at them, whereas the Elements of Harmony were confused.  
  
“How are you…”   
  
“Oi mate, keep moving!” a rough voice came from behind them, a brown furred stallion was being held up by the Elements of Harmony blocking the doorway. With a huff, the Elements of Harmony kept moving forwards then darted off to the restrooms when they were inside.  
  
A simple room with two cubicles in the far corner and two sinks with mirrors behind them, the Elements of Harmony ran over to the sinks and stared into the mirrors with intent.  
  
“Speak, now…” anxious for any reaction, but like a typical reflection; nothing happened. They glanced all around at their reflection but didn’t spot anything out of the ordinary, no talking back to them and no shouting. “Am I going mad?” the Elements of Harmony massaged the side of their head. They glared at their reflection, desperate for any kind of reaction, but nothing.  
  
“Fuck this, I’ve got rare metal to find.” The Elements of Harmony huffed back out of the door and into the main lobby of the museum, it was a very modern museum rather than classic ones in Canterlot. This one had glass steps leading upstairs and purple carpet on both levels.  
  
They hopped up the steps two at a time, their torn clothes flapping against their skin and blood clotted their hair; many ponies gawped and stared at the soon to be royal prince looking an unbearable mess.  
  
They completely ignored the audible gasps of mares and stallions who had diverted their attention from the priceless works of art, statues and figures towards the human striding through them like a savage wolf hunting a defenceless deer.  
  
‘Rare minerals’ was written on a rich wooden sign above a doorway that led down a dimly lit hallway with small pillars that displayed various rocks, shiny gems and metals.  
  
“Got to be here.” The Elements of Harmony muttered to themselves as they barged past a mare who was still gazing at them.  
  
The Elements of Harmony glanced at each and every display case they strode past, they didn’t need to examine them in detail; it was stick out to them very easily.   
  
Getting further and further down the hallway had no such effect on them, it was all a bunch of sapphires, iron, gold and other less valuable stuff.  
  
“Not it. Not it. Wrong name. Not even a metal.” They pointed out a few items to themselves as they kept walking. “HAH!”   
  
They stopped so suddenly that they very nearly fell backwards, spinning around and placing both hands on the thick protective glass box that housed the metal within.   
  
This metal was large and jagged at multiple angles, it was a rich deep red that seemed to absorb light rather than refract it even though it appeared shiny.  
  
“Ulemite…” the Elements of Harmony whispered to themselves.  
  
“Excuse me!” a stern voice suddenly came from down the other end of the hallway, the Elements of Harmony looked up to see a security guard mare in a light blue outfit walking hastily towards them. “No touching the glass please!”  
  
“Oh fuck off!” the Elements of Harmony held out a flat palm then quickly made a fist, the security guard collapsed instantly in a vicious crunch of snapping bones and severed arteries. Ponies screamed and began to run away but the Elements of Harmony spun around and almost like they were throwing something with their closed fist; a sudden shockwave shattered all the glass boxes down the hallway, the shards jumped to life and tore into the bodies of the fleeing ponies, darting from one pony to another and cutting them all deep that the hall was suddenly changed from luxury purple to a sickening red and covered in dozens of pony bodies.  
  
They turned their attention back to the glass box that was spared the shattering all the others had endured, the Elements of Harmony lifted the glass box off then dropped it to their side in an explosion of glass and ripped carpet.  
  
They picked up the chunk of metal, catching the glimpse of stampeding armed guards running towards them; they snapped their fingers once again and they were gone in thin air.  
  
  
  
During the early reign of both Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, the castle of the Royal Pony Sisters had the early settling of Canterlot around it with plenty of shops, buildings, homes and a blacksmith run by a very talented mare. But now, like the castle itself, everything had been forgotten long ago and fallen into unrepairable states, there were small rock outlines of the houses and buildings that stood surrounded by trees, leaves and almost silence.  
  
It would have been silent had it not been for a sudden crack of thunder followed by a flash of light that illuminated the fresh night around. Footsteps were softened by the wet grass amongst the silence accompanied by something large and heavy dropped onto the grass.  
  
The Elements of Harmony gazed across the expanse of fields, the rock they had just stolen lay at their feet.   
  
“Last time…here…” they positioned themselves in different areas where the houses and buildings used to be, mumbling to themselves every time they stopped. “So that’s where that house was…and there was…” they were relying on their memories to figure out where something was, planning a mental map.  
  
“So then…if that shop was there…and that’s her old house…”  
  
They froze mid-sentence then slowly turned behind them to lay their eyes upon a group of stones indicating an old building.  
  
“This is the old blacksmiths…”  
  
They grinned evilly and their eyes unblinking from the ground. They outstretched their right hand and began to walk very slowly around the area of the blacksmiths.  
  
“Come out, come out, wherever you are…” it was almost like they were trying to charm something out of the ground, sensing it, hunting it.  
  
Their feet snapped still and they cackled loudly.  
  
“Gotcha…”   
  
They closed their eyes and clenched their outstretched hand into a fist, in an almost fishing technique they yanked their arm upwards sharply. The ground shook viciously but only in a small area of the grass, the surface began to break like a mole rising to the surface but instead came up something much bigger, the mound of mud grew as a black object covered in deep cuts and scratches rose to the surface.  
  
The Elements of Harmony hastily ran over to it, dragged it out of the mud it was surrounded by and into the nearby entrance of the abandoned castle, it scraped along the stone floor and left scratches but the Elements of Harmony weren’t interested in the damages caused, once it was in a suitable spot with plenty of open room and sat upright then they ran back outside and grabbed the rock they had just stolen.  
  
Heaving it inside, they brought it over to the metal structure they had just dug up.  
  
“Déjà vu.” They chuckled and shook their head. The metal object they had dug up resembled an anvil but was different from any kind of anvil that ever existed. With the growing economy of Equestria and being situated so close to the Royal Castle, this blacksmith was crafting so many items for building, for weapons, for tools, that the anvils they burned through was not helpful in the slightest and pushed work back. So Princess Celestia placed an unbreaking spell upon this one anvil so it would survive anything and everything.  
  
The Elements of Harmony lifted the Ulemite rock above their head.  
  
And since Ulemite was near impossible to destroy, it was suitable for sealing away dangerous weapons that should never have been created, one thing would have to give between this anvil and the Ulemite.  
  
The Elements of Harmony launched the Ulemite rock at the anvil with all its strength.   
  
An explosion of rock fragments, dust and gravel threw the Elements of Harmony backwards, their arms flew out to cover their face and they smacked down on their back but since serve spinal damage was something they could brush off with a swift repair of controlled regenerative magic that lit up their back with a soft warm light it wasn’t a problem for them as they scrambled back on their feet, a flutter in their stomach made them fear the myth about an indestructible anvil was old pony talk as the dust settled, something had shattered; but what?  
  
“I don’t believe it…” The Elements of Harmony stepped forwards and found the myth had been true, the anvil HAD survived its impact from the Ulemite which now lay in multiple pieces had shattered upon impact of the anvil. And settled on the edge of the anvil was something shining in the rising moonlight. It was about a foot in length and pointed at one end, it looked like it was built out of chrome.  
  
The Elements of Harmony picked up the object with one hand and smiled like being reunited with an old friend. It was light to hold but cut their finger with ease with almost no pressure being applied to the tip. It was a triple edged dagger with a long handle and perfect weight balance which meant the Elements of Harmony could spin it easily in their hand.  
  
“Better test this first I guess.” They snapped their fingers and vanished instantly along with the dagger.  
  
  
  
  
On the edge of Ponyville sat a small house with straw thatched roof and colourful flowers out front in vases, thunder cracked overhead which was able to hide the arrival of the Elements of Harmony.  
  
They had appeared twenty feet from the front door of the house they had picked and calmly walked towards it, their magic bubbling away deep within and gathering strength for a powerful spell. The Elements of Harmony spun the dagger in their hand and slipped it in the back of their ripped trousers and flapped their shirt so it hid the dagger.  
  
Getting closer to the house, their footsteps clicked against the round stone steps placed within the grass leading up to it. They were about to knock on the front door when they spotted a window beside it with a reflection of themselves but this time; it was in a different pose than they stood in.  
  
“What are you doing?” their reflection spoke to them, wary of whatever was going on; the Elements turned their attention to the reflection.  
  
“So I scream inside your head while you’re in control, and when I’m walking…” the Elements of Harmony realised what was going on, this wasn’t a reflection of themselves; it was Drake deep within, still struggling against the hold the Elements of Harmony kept on his body.  
  
“And I scream back.” Drake snarled.  
  
“You can’t stop us, you’re done.” The elements of Harmony said and knocked softly on the door of the house without breaking eye contact with Drake.   
  
“If you do this, there’s no going back.” Drake warned them but the Elements of Harmony ignored him as the mare who owned the house opened the door.  
  
The Elements of Harmony looked down upon the grey mare with golden mane and tail, her eyes were off centre but her bubbly personality shone through. She had a pair of wings that fluttered with happiness when she saw who she thought was Drake.  
  
“Hey Drake! It’s wonderful to see you!” Derpy Hooves cried out and bounced on the spot.  
  
“Hey Derpy, it’s really great to see you too.” The Elements of Harmony pretended to be Drake to gain the trust of the pony.   
  
“Come in, come in.” Derpy asked the Elements of Harmony to get inside to which they obliged and stepped inside.  
  
Derpy’s house was cosy and warm, she had a roaring fire in the far side of it with a red sofa positioned in front with an open book on one of the cushions. Paintings and photos hung on the walls of other ponies and for some reason one of the paintings was of a muffin.  
  
“You’ve got a lot of photos of other ponies.” The Elements of Harmony commented, keeping up the ruse.  
  
“Yea well this year I’ve been working on making new friends and here they all are.” Derpy replied.  
  
“Hey, can I ask of a favour of you?” The Elements of Harmony bent down so they were eye level.  
  
“Of course Drake, you’re my friend and I’ll do anything for you.” Derpy smiled.  
  
“Well I’ve been working on this spell and…well…” The Elements of Harmony began.  
  
“I’d love to help you test it.” Derpy said happily to the Elements of Harmony, they placed a hand of the top of Derpy’s head and used their spell.  
  
“Ow…” Derpy whispered softly, a sharp twinge later and the Elements of Harmony’s hand was being pushed away by a grown horn on the top of Derpy’s head. “Oh my gosh!” Derpy cried out as she spotted her brand new horn. “Am I?”   
  
“An Alicorn?” The Elements of Harmony tried to finish her sentence.  
  
“A princess!” Derpy happily trotted on the spot.  
  
“What?” The Elements of Harmony were puzzled.  
  
“My mum always said I was a princess!” Derpy cried with happiness, the Elements of Harmony tutted.  
  
“Well yea, the spell I used on you makes you an Alicorn but a princess….” The Elements of Harmony never bothered to learn the correlation between princess status and Alicorns.   
  
Suddenly objects began to float around Derpy and the Elements of Harmony, her horn glowed with a bright yellow light as she levitated multiple objects around them to test out her new Alicorn magic.  
  
“This is what you wanted to test?” Derpy was chocked with happiness.  
  
“Well no…” The Elements of Harmony pulled out the dagger from behind their back.  
  
“I needed to make sure this thing can kill Alicorns.”   
  
SSCCHHKKKKK!  
  
All the objects that had floated around them crashed to the ground when the Elements of Harmony stabbed Derpy with the dagger, her eyes shrunk in shock and her mouth began to fill with blood which she coughed up. The life drained from her but not before a tear dripped from one of her closing eyes.  
  
The Elements of Harmony pushed Derpy off the blade of the dagger and let her collapse to the ground with a heavy thud.  
  
Derpy had enough strength to open one of her eyes to a photo of her and her mum in a photo near her face, they were both smiling ear to ear with a birthday cake in front of them.  
  
“I did it mum…” she coughed blood splatters onto the photo. “I’m a princess…”  
  
And with that, she was gone.  
  
  
  
The Elements of Harmony wiped the blade of her dagger on one of Derpy’s curtains, spotting their reflection covering their face with their hands in the window.  
  
“You killed my friend…my first friend here…” Drake sobbed.  
  
“Needed to test if this can kill Alicorns…” the Elements of Harmony gazed at the dagger with satisfaction of its work. “And yea it can!” they chuckled.  
  
“I WILL MURDER YOU!” Drake screamed from the window and tried to bang against it but to no avail.  
  
“Well you’d better hurry…” the Elements of Harmony said as they walked out of Derpy’s home, “Because I’m going after Luna next.” With a snap of their fingers, they were gone.


	27. Rescinding Royalty

Princess Luna sat herself down in a clearing within the large ten acres of apple orchard within the Apple family’s farm. She had tears streaming down her face which no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t stop herself from blubbering, she had given up on trying to stand after ten minutes of falling down and now she was able to let herself cry in hysterics.  
  
“Why…is…this….happening?!” she screamed so loud that birds nesting for the night flew out of the apple tree a few feet from her. Her wings no longer kept close to her body as usual but now flopped down beside her, sprawled out with her royal feathers becoming filthy with dirt and leaves.  
  
She had run away from Canterlot Castle as fast as she could gallop, fly, crash and stumble. She just had to get away from the hell her life was becoming.  
  
“I just want it all to stop!” she screamed to the heavens.  
  
“I can help with that.”   
  
Princess Luna jumped as soon as she heard that voice. She was instantly on her hooves and facing a human male standing what must have only been 20 feet from her, it wasn’t a small distance but with what she knew he was; any distance was too small for her safety. He had black hair and stood eye level with her; for a split second she hoped it was the human part that greeted her.  
  
“I can PERMANENTLY help with that.” He viciously grinned to her, it was the elements of harmony which already terrified her but the huge blade they drew from behind their back really made her wings dart outwards from terror.  
  
Princess Luna had heard stories, myths even, about a three pronged blade that shone with the brilliance of the sun that could kill anything, including gods, but she had never believed them to be true. To see her best friend wielding it, there was a pain in her chest that fractured her.  
  
“Why do you hate me so much?!” Princess Luna screamed at them.  
  
“If you need to ask then you don’t deserve to be told.” The elements of Harmony’s glare penetrated Luna like their eyesight was just as sharp as that blade.  
  
“You’re psychopathic, the human you’re controlling would never do this!” she pointed one of her dark royal blue hooves at them.  
  
“He allowed us in.” the elements of harmony pointed the tip of the blade to their chest, “And you helped gather us.” They then pointed the blade to Princess Luna.  
  
“I would NEVER!” Princess Luna bellowed at the elements of Harmony who replied with a deep chuckle.  
  
“Close your eyes, it’ll be over quickly.” The Elements of Harmony stepped towards Princess Luna whose heart was now beating faster than ever before, her eyes darting between the blade that shone in the dark and the human who she couldn’t bear to hurt.  
  
“Control somepony else and you’ll get a better fight.” Princess Luna felt awful for suggesting such a thing but she wouldn’t hurt Drake, even if it wasn’t his soul attacking her.  
  
“Nah, I prefer this body.” The elements of harmony grinned viciously and flipped the blade in a quick motion so it was at an angle to stab with. “It’s so…humorous, you see. Plenty of hormones, testosterone and way too much juicy guilt.”  
  
“Drake will find my body and you’ll be sorry you ever existed!” Princess Luna gritted her teeth and prepared for the fight.  
  
“Glad you’re thinking you’re already dead, that makes this a lot easier.” The elements of Harmony took a few more steps towards her, the blade wielded in their hand just by their chest and their other hand prepared to grab Luna to make the stab more precise.  
  
“You’ve seen what he’s done, what he’s capable of.” Princess Luna was hoping Drake was as blood thirsty and she believed he had been to scare the elements of Harmony. “He doesn’t hate anything or anyone as much as he hates himself, now imagine what he would do to someone like you.”  
  
The elements of harmony stopped suddenly from their decent upon Luna, she knew she was onto something with that and the Elements of Harmony knew too.   
  
“As long as you die, we don’t care what happens afterwards.” The elements of harmony began their approach on Luna once more and were no more than a few feet from her now. “It’s finally over.”  
The elements of Harmony took one large step towards Princess Luna who lurched backwards and screamed, in a split second the Elements went to grab onto her neck and plunged the blade upwards into her chest and into heart.  
  
Dark blue smoke clouded their vision but they could tell they had passed straight through the Alicorn and sprawled out onto the dirt floor, dead leaves and sticks were thrust into their face while the blade was thrown out of their hand and across the floor, the Elements swore loudly as they wafted away the blue smoke; looking around to see a body.  
  
“What is this?” they reached out and snatched up the blade before rolling onto their back.  
“A simple magic trick, easy to fool a foal; I thought you would have seen through my ruse but…you surpassed my low assumptions of you.” A deep cackle came from all around them.  
  
“Come on out and die, princess!” The Elements of Harmony got to their feet and prepared for a fight but instead something much more frightening happened.  
  
The light from the moon disappeared like someone had switched it off, darkness enveloped the forest around them and swallowed the grounds so the Elements could see mere feet in front of them.  
  
“I know you, bitch, you won’t touch this body.” The elements of Harmony believed they had her figured out, taking a step forwards and then collapsing backwards with a scream. Large sinister blue eyes appeared from the darkness along with rows of razor sharp fangs that were licked with a serpents tongue. The blade was dragged out of their hands and into the darkness behind them and concealed by the night, they tried to reach for it and felt something pointed that pricked their hands.  
Pulling whatever they had found towards them, they discovered it to be a dark blue royal tiara that was bent and twisted at all different angles.   
  
“I never knew that royalty on an Alicorn was a hindrance, a limitation if you will.” The deep cackling voice seemed to come from everywhere, in all directions around them as well as a forced feeling of despair and fear. “And renouncing it, well, it allows for unrivalled magic beyond before.”   
  
“I’M THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY…” they stood up to challenge the darkness but was slammed back into the dirt with such force that it damaged their body, coughing blood and pain ruptured from their back.  
  
“AND I DON’T CARE!” the deep voice boomed with such intensity that mountains could have shook loose and collapsed. The eyes and fangs before them had now multiplied and surrounded the Elements of Harmony, petrified they could do nothing but watch in fear as the eyes slowly focused upon them.  
  
The furthest pair of eyes opposite them slowly fell backwards until they merged with a tall creature that seemed to appear instantly but upon seeing it; the elements of Harmony realised it had always been there.   
  
It took a few steps forward until it stood inside the dome made up of eyes and fangs. It was a tall alicorn that the Elements of Harmony mistook it at first for Princess Luna’s usual appearance but quickly it was apparent it was not her usual look.  
  
It had much darker hair on its body and its mane was so black it swallowed all light that it felt dangerous to look at it; instead of flowing this mane dripped onto the floor but never lost its mass. It still had a horn and wings but the horn looked deadly to touch and the wings were not full of feathers, but of black bones and ripped, burned and decaying feathers that appeared ready to fall off at any moment with the slightest movement. The fangs and unblinking, wide eyes were too much for the Elements of Harmony who screamed bloody murder until their throat was hoarse.  
  
They tried to scramble to their feet and flee but were dragged back to the demonic Alicorn in a fit of kicking and screaming, they were flipped onto their back and found they were underneath the Alicorn who was holding the blade in a dark cloud of magic aura.  
  
“You want this blade so badly?” the Alicorn asked rhetorically and with a twist of their neck to look down at the Elements, the Alicorn plunged the blade into their shoulder of the screaming Elements of Harmony. “THEN HAVE IT!” the Elements screamed in both pain and heart stopping terror.  
  
They tried to grab onto the handle of the blade to pull it out but their arms were suddenly pinned to their sides; all their efforts were futile now as they tossed about in pain and fear.  
  
“STOP!” the Elements of Harmony screamed at the top of Drake’s voice. “We’ll hide deep in his mind again! You’ll only be killing him!” they threatened.  
  
Suddenly their throat clenched tightly, suffocating them as red blistering marks appeared across their neck surrounded by more dark blue magic.  
  
“I don’t care if I kill Drake!” the Alicorn growled as they tightened the grip around Drake’s throat, words couldn’t escape from the Elements of Harmony, their eyes bulged and their arms wrestled against the magic pinning them down. “As long as YOU die!”  
  
The Alicorns mane grew out a thin strand that wriggled its way through the air and darted towards the Elements of Harmony’s mouth as it swiftly and violently forced itself in and down into Drake’s body, his body writhed and convulsed like it was trying to shake itself apart. The mane of the Alicorn infected every part of his body as it hunted for the disease that was the Elements of Harmony, the Alcorn searched his brain, his muscles, his soul and every cell in a matter of seconds.  
  
“YOU ARE FINISHED!” the Alicorn screamed as the mane wrapped around something jagged and impossibly small yet massive at the same time. Without any thought for the care of Drake’s body; the Alicorn ripped out its mane from Drake’s body and bringing out six jagged multi coloured auras with it that shot upwards and blew away the darkness that had surrounded them before as well as the eyes and fangs. The force pushed the Alicorn backwards who stumbled a mere few feet but threw the human across the forest floor and blew out the blade which tossed itself into the air; twirled a few times then stabbed itself into the soft mud between the Alicorns front hooves with a shrinkkk!   
  
The Alicorn, with no fear anymore, walked calmly towards the human figure and could see the damage she had inflicted upon him. Blood leaked from the stab wound in his left shoulder, bright red marks where she had strangled the Elements of Harmony were left on his neck, similar red marks also dressed his wrists and ankles.  
  
She used one of her hooves to turn him onto his back, she saw his weak eyes flutter open and he uttered one word.  
  
“Woona.”


	28. Rebirth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drake is tired and beaten, physically and mentally, Discord tries to keep his cool and Princess Celestia is met with a shock from her sister.

Drake unfurled a large map across the war room’s table, the corners were held down by Princess Celestia’s golden magic, it was a map of all Equestria with high levels of details which Discord stretched his arms over and began to conjure up a spell.

“If she’s no longer warded then I can find Princess Luna.” His claw and paw began to glow with a powerful purple aura that dripped down onto the map. Without warning, the map suddenly combusted into flames that started at the edge and worked its way inwards until a single small fragment was left, Drake reached across the table and snatched it up.

“You fool, you’re looking for Luna, not us!” he turned around the map fragment to Discord and showed it to him, it was the map section of Canterlot, specifically Canterlot Castle.

“Bullshit! I did that spell multiple times before and it always worked!” Discord roared, he snatched the piece of the map from Drake and inspected it. “I don’t know why it’s showing…”

“I can feel her.” Princess Celestia spoke in a nervous tone, being an Alicorn meant she had a heightened level of magic detection. Drake looked up at her with anticipation while Discord was still studying the map fragment.

“That’s good though, right? If you can sense her then she’s alive and close.” Drake circled the table to stand next to his fiancé, she shook her head in response.

“Not this time, she’s…” Princess Celestia could feel dread within herself.

“SHE…is back…” Luna’s voice came from the war room’s doorway, the three of them turned sharply to look towards her, she wasn’t alone.

It was future Drake leaning on her with Luna’s mane draped over him, he was bleeding from his mouth and had his eyes half shut, Drake leapt forward to catch his future self because he slipped from Luna’s grasp and down onto his knees.

“Whoa!” Drake exclaimed as he caught himself, he felt surreal looking at himself beaten and bruised, the fact he wasn’t being attacked was enough of a sign that the elements of Harmony had stopped.

“They’re gone, just so you know.” Luna hobbled towards her sister, a pained expression read across her dark blue face.

“They gave up?” Discord was leaning on the table in the centre of the room, he couldn’t take his gaze off future Drake. “That seems very unlikely.”

“Yea it is unlikely, that’s why I tore them out of him.” Luna spoke softly, she glanced at everyone’s reactions. Drake wasn’t listening to her since he was lifting his future self towards a firm couch in the corner of the room but it was better than letting him collapse onto the floor. Discord was leaning against the war table, his eye brows raised in mixed confusion but also a touch of fear, he was thinking that Luna may have done something he knew could be done, he looked over to Princess Celestia and saw she too had the same look on her face, only her fear was from losing her sister, not from maybe having to fight her.

“Sister…where’s your crown?” Princess Celestia looked at her sister’s head, she would always wear a dark blue tiara but this time she was not, it didn’t hang in her mane but a second later, Drake pulled it out of his future self’s ripped jeans.

“I may have gotten a bit overboard.” She softly spoke to her sister, Luna’s hoof steps echoed in the war room and was instantly noticeable to her sister why.

“You’re…not wearing you royal hoof protectors…” Princess Celestia watched her younger sister walk over towards the unconscious Drake from the future who was still knocked out, his chest was rising and falling very slowly.

Drake was ignoring his fiancé’s fashion questions over her sister as he was inspecting his future body.

“When the Elements of Harmony left him, they clearly tried to kill him on the way out.” Drake commented, his future body was covered in bruises, small and large ones, his right eyes was swollen and upon lifting his upper lip he found blood in between his teeth.

“No that was me.” Luna replied, everyone stopped and stared at her.

“What…you did this?!” Drake exclaimed, Luna nodded and walked to over to the unconscious body.

“Give him time, he’ll wake up.” Luna spoke as if she didn’t have a worry in the world, she was calm and that unnerved everyone. Drake stood up from his kneeling position next to his future self and faced Luna.

“What did you do to him?” he asked with care, Luna was still his friend and he refused to lose anymore with his attitude.

“I ripped the Elements of Harmony out of his being.” She told him, her tone was different than before, she didn’t have an ounce of fear in her voice now, she spoke with such confidence that it was utterly unlike her. “What you are seeing before you all is an original Drake…” she made sure to direct the attention to the one Drake who was standing, the one with only one Element of Harmony still in him.

“This is a 100% original Drake, when he first came to Equestria.”

Everyone turned back to look at the Drake who lay unconscious.

“How is he not a quivering mess?” Discord spoke up, he pulled a stick out of thin air and started poking him.

“Stop that.” Princess Celestia stole the stick away from Discord but in his other hand he pulled out a stick the exact same, making the princess give him a scolding look.

“I pulled this out of your butt.” Discord jokingly whispered to her, Princess Celestia rolled her eyes.

“I had to use a lot of magic to pull the Elements from his body, they clung onto his physical being tightly.” Luna was still standing over Drake.

“Please sister, don’t tell me you…” Princess Celestia stepped forward towards Luna.

“Princess, what did you do?” The awake Drake placed a hand on her wing, she shook him off quickly.

“Do not call me Princess, for I have resigned my royalty.” Luna exclaimed, Princess Celestia gasped and Drake was left shocked, Discord had his eyes half shut as if he hadn’t been told anything.

“Wait you gave up being a princess?!” Princess Celestia choked, her eyes wide like dinner plates, Luna nodded.

“Hang on, hold up! I’m lost here, what’s giving up royalty got to do with me from the future having the Elements ripped out of him?!” Drake shouted, Luna sighed and rolled her eyes at him.

“A princess status is more of a limitation of her powers, having royalty gives big perks but restricts her magic usage, I gave up my crown and became a goddess.” Luna grinned to herself.

“You can do that?” Drake asked her, he looked to his fiancé with shock and disbelief, Princess Celestia sighed and bowed her head.

“Yes, I didn’t know something like this would come up but yes…we can give up royalty for an increase in magical power.” Princess Celestia admitted.

A small groan coming from the unconscious Drake was just enough for Discord to feel the need to step in again.

“Look everypony, as much as I’d LOOOOOVE to hear the princess exclaim her woes to her fiancé, we have more pressing matters at hoof.” He said aloud, everyone nodded in response. “With this war coming up and we just lost our best weapon, we’re kinda out of options here.” He stepped towards the unconscious Drake.

“Well what are we going to do with him?” Drake asked; looking at himself on the couch.

“I say I force him to wake up and he gets stuck in with our world.” Discord held his a single talon on his claw which was glowing a soft yellow glow.

“He’s damaged inside and out, he needs to rest.” Princess Celestia butted in before Discord could put his spell to work. “I say we take him to bed and let him sleep.” She wanted as much as help as she could get to protect her subjects but a messed up human isn’t what she needed right now. “Drake, you agree right?” she turned to look at her fiancé.

“Yes I agree…” Drake nodded, her looked at both Discord and Princess Celestia, Discord crossed his arms and snaked his tongue at Drake.

“So we take him upstairs…” the princess began.

“No, I agree with Discord.” Drake corrected her, both Discord and Princess Celestia were shocked with Discord being surprised more. “We need help, and he’s the help.” Drake pointed out, Discord and Luna agreed by nodding. Princess Celestia looked away, almost hurt.

Discord held up his claw which began to glow a soft light, Drake and Luna moved out the way to let him pass, Princess Celestia held her breath in a tight chest as Discord pressed his claw against Drakes forehead.

With a loud gasp along with wide eyes and rapid breathing, Drake sat bolt upright with his muscles tensed as if he had just been electrocuted. Discord nearly tripped when he was startled by Drake.

“Please tell me that Draconequus didn’t give me CPR.” Drake coughed, he swung his legs over the side of the sofa and went to stand up.

“Whoa whoa, hold on there.” Discord was the first to react and push Drake back down to sitting on the sofa, “You’re gonna need to take it easy, I want you to help in any way you can but you need to stay calm.”

Drake looked up to Discord with confusion, he looked past him and up to Princess Celestia.

“Did you castrate him or something?” he chuckled to himself and pointed back to Discord, Drake stood up with a tired and achy groan, even at full height he was still a foot shorter than Discord was.

Drake stretched out his hand towards Discord and held it mid-air, Discord and the others were looking at the human with concern.

“What are you doing?” Discord asked, almost stepping back from the human.

“We’re gonna start over, fix it right.” Drake said. “Starting with a handshake…paw shake…”

“You…you’re serious?” Discord was completely bewildered and taken aback.

“Yea I am.”

Princess Celestia leaned over to her sister whom they standing behind the two of them.

“How hard DID you attack him?” Princess Celestia whispered.

“Clearly harder than I thought.” Luna raised an eyebrow at the sight in front of her.

Slowly and cautiously, Discord stretched out his paw and took hold of Drakes hand, they shook on their promise to start anew.

“Do you feel alright?” Discord jokingly asked.

“No, I don’t.” Drake replied in full seriousness. “I genuinely feel I’ve had 10 years added on me, and I’m tired of the fighting.”

“Alright, so what do we do first?” the younger Drake walked up to his older self, the older Drake stood silent for a bit before he spoke.

“I think…I think we need Earth’s help, we need my people.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i've started writing this again as i took it from an old website that i had posted this on before but due to spam reviews and needing a fresh start im now on here, i wanted a new go at the storyline since there was SO MUCH stuff that didnt work out or i didnt carry on or didnt make sense, its all going to be very bare boned but fleshed out from here on out.


	29. Farewells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Future Drake asks Discord for a favor and the plans for the war and finalized.

“No, we are NOT asking for help from Earth!” the younger Drake snapped at his older self, rage flinched inside him.  
“I say we should, they have so much more fire power to stop anything and were a standing force well into the war.” Drake was now sitting back on the sofa in the war room, he was quickly getting tired.  
“They’ll look to invade Equestria, they’ll…” the younger Drake argued with himself.  
“They’re our best hope.” Drake looked up with frustration towards his younger self, he was the one who had seen the horrors humanity brought, their weapons killed his friends he made and now someone, be it himself, who didn’t know anything about the war was telling him who Equestria should and shouldn’t side with!  
Discord was watching the eldest Drake who didn’t look healthy, Discord didn’t want to say anything but he was sure Drake might collapse.  
“There’s a gap in the world that will open up, a few of us should head through and attempt to reason with Earth.” The eldest Drake seemed out of breath just talking.  
“Who’s going with you?” Princess Celestia asked, much to her fiancé’s frustration.  
“You can’t be serious Celestia? You’re taking his side?!” the youngest Drake jumped so she could see him, he was acting like a spoiled kid who wasn’t allowed to buy a toy.  
“I am serious.” She didn’t take her vision off the older Drake, “I’ve got to think about the safety of my subjects, and if that means taking a risk to secure their lives then I’ll do it.” The eldest Drake mouthed a thank you.  
“But…” Drake tried to speak.  
“But nothing, I’m a princess, not your baby sitter right now.” Princess Celestia told him, Drake was left speechless, Earth could prove dire for Equestria and she had been convinced by his future self. Drake glared at his future self who seemed weaker than ever, his eyes were half closed and he was hunched over in his seated position.  
“Someone take the dying guy outside before we have to bury him please.” Luna didn’t care about Drake wellbeing now, it was a radical change to her behaviour that her sister grew worried for her, could she have lost her sister?  
“Come on, let’s get some air.” Discord was the one to offer to help him outside, Drake tried to ask to stay but he was no in shape to fight against Discord today. He was lifted to his and hobbled out of the war room with the draconequus.  
“I need to hear what’s going to happen.” Drake told Discord as they walked into the entrance hall.  
“You got hit by unhindered alicorn energy, take it from me; you aren’t in any shape to be in meetings.” Discord told him, Drake looked up at him.  
“You’ve been through this?” he asked.  
“Let’s just say I’ve lived longer than both royal sisters have been alive.” Discord whispered to Drake, he wasn’t sure if he had understood him but walked him out into the courtyard and sat him on a white marble bench under a floral gazebo. “So…no more elements of harmony knocking around in you?”  
“No, I’m useless now.” Drake sighed.  
“Well, I guess you’re not fully useless.” Discord admitted, Drake chuckled lightly.  
“Is that a compliment coming from you?” he nudged Discord but he was so weak that Discord didn’t even register it.  
“Don’t get used to them.” Discord straightened his back from bending over, “That lot will find a way to fight whatever’s coming, I know they will.”  
“That’s what I’m worried about, everything from time and space converses on this world, we can’t fight because that’s the mistake I made last time so we can only seal those wounds in reality.” Drake explained.  
“I think you’re past self wants to just go balls out and fight everything that does come through.” Discord nodded back towards the castle.  
They both sat in silence for a bit, Discord was contemplating everything and Drake was just trying to not pass out by focusing on a flower at his feet.  
“What if I don’t head back in?” Drake asked aloud, Discord looked at him.  
“Don’t want to deal with it anymore?” he asked him, Drake shook his head.  
“I think, whatever this shit is, it’s gonna happen and I just can’t stop it like I thought I could.” He told Discord. “What if I just go back to Ponyville and say my final goodbyes?”  
“You don’t think you’d survive the fight again?” Discord’s tail gave a slightly worried flick which he tried to hide.  
“I’m mortal Discord.” Drake coughed. “And not in the best state anyway, kinda just want to go home to Ponyville, see my family, say goodbye and…” he swallowed hard.  
“Don’t say it, I don’t want another friend to die.” Discord hesitated for a moment then slipped his lion paw across Drake and hugged him gently. “Look, I’ll send you back but don’t…just please don’t…”  
Drake took hold of Discord’s paw and smiled to him.  
“Took this much to be friends then, huh?” Drake and Discord agreed on that.  
Discord stood up and stretched out his paw towards Drake, his paw was glowing softly in a white light. Drake groaned as he stood up and faced his new friend, he stretched out his hand, shook hand and paw with Discord then vanished in a white light back to Ponyville.  
Discord was left standing alone again, he sighed and looked down at the ground. He rubbed his eyes and turned back towards the castle, making his way back into the war room where both sisters and the younger Drake were finalising their plan.  
“Hey, you left Drake outside?” Princess Celestia quickly asked Discord.  
“Sort of, he’s gone back to Ponyville.”  
Everyone stopped and looked up at him.  
“What? Why’s he gone back there?” Drake expressed.  
“Because he’s worried he’s going to die and he wanted to say goodbye to his friends.” Discord told him, Drake shook his head and looked back at the plans. “What’s that?” Discord pointed to the plans on the table.  
“We’re ready.” Luna told him.

 

Blinding light in his eyes made Drake feel sick but after a minute or so he was able to again, finding himself on the edge of Ponyville it didn’t take a map expert to see Sweet Apple Acres wasn’t that far away and he made his way towards it, he was still weak but his sheer will to see his family was stronger than any pain he could endure.  
He made his way onto the farm after a mile of walking through the dirt road, saying hi to the passing ponies who greeted him back. He winced through the farm entrance where it proudly displayed the apple family name.  
Drake heard Applejack before he saw her, a southern “Yeehaw!” made him grin from ear to ear, an orange pony came running out of the barn chasing a cow, she watched it run into the paddock filled with other cows then quickly spotting the human waving at her. She galloped towards him and into his arms.  
“Well howdy doo Drake! Ah haven’t seen you in ages!” Applejack cheered, she was thrilled to see her friend.  
“I’ve missed you a lot my sweet apple.” Drake hugged her tightly, she chuckled and looked up at him when he used the nickname her gave her a year ago.  
“Ah’m sure ah’ve got a cousin called that!” she laughed and made Drake laugh a lot too. She looked up to Drake and saw something in him that she didn’t want to, Applejack’s smile dropped slightly and she looked down at the grassy ground.  
“Ya’ll ain’t here just to hi, are ya?” her southern twang swept through Drake’s ears as he pulled her tight into his chest.  
“I’m mortal now, and I can’t stop this fight.” He kisses her head and ran his fingers through her orange mane. Applejack closed her eyes and wrapped her forelegs around his waist.  
It felt like time stood still for them both, Drake could smell the fresh apples in the mare’s hair and Applejack could feel the human’s thumping heartbeat against her head.  
“Thank you for everything.” They both said at the same time, usually this would have led to a laugh or two but tears stung in their eyes, Applejack hid herself into Drake’s chest while the human didn’t try and hide his, he just stared straight ahead and let the tears drip down his cheek.


End file.
